2. Mid-sized companies according to Mediobanca-Unioncamere

This aspect is regularly confirmed by the entrepreneurs who take part in conferences to present the annual reports on medium-sized enterprises, who recognize that the workers employed by their firms are the real factors in the long-term success of the their companies. Madel is a case in point: “anyone can buy the best machinery and the best technology, but ultimately it is the people who make the difference” (Mediobanca and Unioncamere 2010).

Compiled by the Mediobanca Research Department (annual surveys of the leading Italian companies).

In statistical terms, “medium-large firms” are those which generate turnover of between €330m and €3bn. This limits apply to consolidated financial statements (Mediobanca 2011).

This category too is monitored by the Mediobanca Research Area (see www.​mbres.​it and related bibliography).

“NEC” refers to north-east and central Italy with the exception of Lazio. The model is based on indigenous companies, mostly small in size, spread widely across the territory and closely linked with the environment of the countryside and small and medium-sized towns. The model tended to prosper in those areas where the populations showed a high degree of entrepreneurial spirit.

Becattini defined the industrial district as a “socio-territorial entity distinguished by the simultaneous active presence, in a given territorial area, geographically and historically defined, of a community of persons and a population of industrial enterprises”.

For further information, see Mediobanca and Unioncamere (2012, pp. VIII–X). Some 8,5% of Italian medium-sized industrial companies fall within the category of staff levels between 250 and 499 employees. Companies comprised in this category account for one-fifth of the total employees, and would not fit in the EU definition of a medium-sized business. Based on the EU parameters (with respect to turnover and staff only) the universe would consist of around 2,240 medium-sized enterprises, that is, some 980 companies fewer than in 2009, when they numbered 257,000 employees (50.5% of the total).

The local region itself also provides the main factors of production (qualified labour and capital, with the latter mainly coming from family savings and banks which for the most part are local). Such attachment to the local environment for a medium-sized company is not necessarily exclusive, however, as tends to be the case for artisanal firms.

Compiled on the basis of OECD classifications (see Mediobanca and Unioncamere 2012, p. XIX). “Larger groups” are defined as those which generate turnover in excess of €3bn. These limits are applied to the consolidated accounts (Mediobanca 2011).

For the reasons which lead a medium-sized company to choose the “business grouping” formula, see Gagliardi 2008, pp. 54–56.

Of such companies, 37% are now independent and have swelled the ranks of the second class of the fourth capitalism (medium-large); 36% have been absorbed by large Italian groups; 20% have been acquired by non-Italian groups, and 7% have gone bankrupt; hence the average annual default rate is 0.8%, markedly higher than the rate recorded for companies which retained their medium size (0.3%). It may therefore be inferred that medium size constitutes a relatively “safe” area for business; as companies increase in size, so too the risk of default increases.

The regional indicators considered are: no. of medium-sized companies/total no. of companies, no. of medium-sized companies/total no. of limited companies; no. of medium-sized companies per 100,000 inhabitants; staff employed by medium-sized companies/total no. of staff employed in industry; manufacturing value added. The summary indicator is derived from the simple average of the normalized readings and is meant to be purely indicative.

The survey uses an original methodology with which to identify industrial districts. Considering that the Istat procedure is in some ways unsatisfactory, and further considering that the districts must be clearly recognizable on the ground, they have been identified by comparing the results of those which have been performing this exercise successfully over time (six for the 2012 edition). The areas identified by the majority of sources as districts have therefore been considered as such; the areas defined as districts by the regions but which are not included in this list, are treated separately and named more generically as local production systems. In this way statistical aggregates have been compiled for 85 districts and 102 local production systems or semi-district areas (the number of “official” districts shown by the Istat survey in 2001 was 156).

Food; wood, furniture and tiles; metal products; machinery, equipment and domestic appliances; yachts, motorbikes, bicycles and sporting items; textiles, clothing and fashion. The “Made in Italy” segments have been defined accordance with the definitions used by Marco Fortis (Fondazione Edison 2005).

Data compiled on 2,776 companies continuously present within the universe from 2000 to 2004, and 2,304 companies continuously present within the universe from 2004 to 2009 compared as appropriate. The 2010 data have been estimated from a survey of 3,033 medium-sized companies for which accounting information was available when the survey was closed.

ROI (return on investment) is the ratio between net operating margin and capital invested, with the latter equal to the sum of net equity less treasury shares and net debt. To ensure that the numerator is consistent with the denominator in this equation, the net operating margin also includes financial income (but excluding gains on exchange rates).

ROE (return on equity) represents the return on net equity only, and is calculated as the ratio between profit for the period and net equity (again minus treasury shares) less the profit itself.

This was the case, for example, with Geox (Mediobanca and Unioncamere 2004; Mediobanca 2009).

For an idea of the mechanism by which a market niche is created, see the presentation by Stefano Canali at the Mediobanca-Unioncamere conference on Italian medium-sized industrial enterprises held on 18 November 2005, which is available at www.​mbres.​it.

See the cases of Moroso and Industrie Cometto, both of which took part in the conference at which the Mediobanca-Unioncamere report was presented in 2011 (Mediobanca and Unioncamere 2011).