Recent Trends in the Size Structure of Italian Manufacturing Firms

Abstract

This paper analyses the re-emergence of small-scale production which has characterised the more recent phase of industrial development in Western countries, providing updated evidence about the phenomenon and focussing in particular the attention on Italy, where it has been assuming peculiar relevance.

Data show that in the course of the '80s the main industrial European countries – with the notable exception of Germany – have experienced a further reduction in the average size of manufacturing firms, which was declining since the mid-'70s. Yet, in all of the countries concerned the increase of the relative "weight" in the employment shares of small enterprises is associated to an overall decline of employment levels in absolute numbers (smaller firm do not succeed in making up for the whole amount of job losses in the industrial sector).

These trends appear particularly strong in the Italian manufacturing sector. In particular, a transition matrix drawn from a data-base of over 200,000 firms and data relative to birth and exit rates show that the rising importance of small firms in terms of employment (in particular within the range between 10 and 50 employees) has been linked to higher rates of growth with respect both to large enterprises and very small ones, as well as to a relatively higher "inertia" of their entry rates with respect to the latter. More specifically, data highlight a peculiarly low frequency of growing firms in the range including very small units (less than 5 employees); at the same time, such firms' exit rates do not show any tendency to be especially affected by the slowing down of economic activity in the late '80s.