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Using a large sample of Italian small-medium sized firms, this study analyses the effects of formal inter-firm cooperation on the performance of family firms (FFs). The study is based on the networ...

This paper explores whether family and non‐family firms differ in terms of their capability to introduce green patenting. By considering the environmental performance as a corporate social responsibility related concern, the analysis is based on a large data set of patenting activities carried out by Italian manufacturing firms over the period 2009–2017. Results show that family firms are less likely than non‐family firms to implement innovations in green technologies. This holds true whatever the level of accumulation in green and non‐green knowledge.

This article focuses on the relationship between external R&D and firm innovation output. Using a sample of Italian manufacturing firms over the period 2007–2009, we estimate the effect of R&D collaboration with the aim to detect differences between family and non-family firms. The study shows that the R&D acquired from external sources has a positive impact on innovative sales, especially for family firms. This result holds when using either the extensive or the intensive margins of R&D collaboration, thereby suggesting that family companies have a greater capacity to translate external R&D into tangible economic benefits. We also find that family firms benefit from the diversity of R&D collaboration.

Using firm-level data, we estimate the returns to R&D investments for a sample of European manufacturing firms over the period 2007–2009. Results confirm that R&D efforts are positively related to ...

The present study examines the drivers of Italian exports via an export equation with regional and time-varying impacts of local financial development. To this purpose, two-way fixed effects regression models with lagged variables and a system Generalized-Methods-of-Moments have been adopted to account for potential endogeneity problems and dynamic trade patterns. The analysis covers the period 2000–2013 and the sub-period 2000–2007. The results show that a mix of factors contributing to lift exports, including financial development, exerts a positive impact on trade flows. In particular, a rise in credit intensity and a reduction in financial risk push export propensity. The results further point to the relevant effect of non-price competitiveness factors, namely R&D and investments, in influencing the export behaviour of the Italian regions. The results hold for both the whole and the pre-crisis period, but the effects are generally stronger during the pre-crisis years.

Using Total Factor Productivity (TFP) as a measure of corporate performance, we find that Italian family-run firms are less productive than firms run by outside managers and the result is robust to potential endogeneity of management regime. This difference tends to vanish when the age of the firms is taken into account.

The aim of the paper is to investigate the impact of financial structure on firms’ probability of bankruptcy in Western Europe convergence regions. The empirical evidence shows that the financial structure is a key factor explaining firms’ bankruptcy, but while the debt, the cash flow and the profitability ratios are strongly significant in explaining firms’ failure, structure and operational ratios are not relevant factors of bankruptcy. Additional differences arise when we consider the countries separately: while debt and cash flow ratios are significant for bank based economies, they are not significant for market oriented countries.

The main aim of this research is to investigate the influence the institutional environment has on the difference in performance between Italian family firms run by a family member and firms run by a professional manager. By using total factor productivity (TFP) as a measure of performance, we find that family-run firms are less productive than firms run by outside managers when institutional quality is high, but that the results are less obvious when institutional quality is low. The difference in performance is not significant, but by using the level of corruption as a measure of institutional quality, older family firms are found to be more productive than firms run by outside managers. rd of directors and their characteristics. We performed a set of regression analysis to evaluate whether the participation of women in the firm’s board of directors and the presence of connections among boardrooms enhance the financial performance measured through Tobin’s Q and Return On Asset (ROA). Empirical results contribute to extend scientific literature about this topic and to provide interesting practical contributions on the role of gender minority and the connections among companies on firms’ performance. Parallel, this research develops topics related to text mining (that is the automatic extraction of quantitative information from text-documents) referring to all the firms’ disclosures, produced in the Italian language.

Using Total Factor Productivity (TFP) as a measure of corporate performance, this study compares the performance of owner management to that of firms run by professional managers over the period 2004-2006. We consider the influence of owner management for the sample as a whole and for subgroups of firms. The findings demonstrate that family run firms are less productive than firms run by professional managers, but the difference between the two is small. Our results support the idea that in Italy there is not a genuine process of manager selection both for family and no-family firms.

L’obiettivo di questo lavoro è di verificare se l’introduzione del Regolamento CEE n.1400/2002 abbia avuto degli effetti sui margini di profitto dei produttori di automobili in Italia. Essendo le automobili prodotti differenziati, come in diversi studi presenti sull’argomento nella letteratura, si sono considerati nell’analisi svolta distinti sottomercati, i quali, ognuno con caratteristiche proprie, hanno costituito diversi segmenti oggetto d’indagine. Nel periodo che va dal 2003 al 2007, applicando una versione del modello di scelta discreta, abbiamo ottenuto delle stime delle elasticità dirette e incrociate della domanda di automobili per i distinti segmenti. Si è passati, poi, al calcolo dell’indice di Lerner, il quale rappresenta una misura del potere di mercato all’interno di essi. I risultati evidenziano un indice di Lerner che presenta un trend decrescente in prevalenza per i segmenti A (City car) e MP (Monovolume piccole), il che sarebbe indicativo di un possibile aumento del grado di concorrenza nel mercato delle automobili in Italia in tali segmenti. Infatti, nonostante i risultati ottenuti abbiano evidenziato che la concorrenza non è cresciuta nei segmenti medio-alti, bisogna tenere presente che il mercato italiano è concentrato prevalentemente nei segmenti medio-bassi, nei quali maggiore è il potere di mercato della Fiat, unico produttore nazionale, e in questi segmenti la concorrenza appare essere aumentata.

Questo lavoro fornisce alcune evidenze sul posizionamento qualitativo delle esportazioni. L’analisi empirica, relativa al periodo 1996-2006, si concentra sulla qualità delle esportazioni nel settore della meccanica di Italia, Germania, Giappone e Cina nel mercato degli Stati Uniti. La ricerca utilizza dati delle esportazioni della banca dati Comtrade delle Nazioni Unite. L’evidenza empirica mostra che: 1) in Italia è in atto un processo di riposizionamento qualitativo nel settore della meccanica; 2) l’Italia, così come la Germania e il Giappone, risulta in prevalenza specializzata nelle produzioni a più elevati valori medi unitari a livello mondiale; 3) il modello di specializzazione cinese si sta evolvendo verso prodotti a medio-alta tecnologia, senza tuttavia competere con i tradizionali esportatori di prodotti meccanici, posizionati su segmenti di mercato diversi. I valori medi unitari delle esportazioni cinesi, pur essendo inferiori alla media mondiale, presentano un trend crescente, possibile segnale di catching-up qualitativo