The latest available data referring to the 2009-2015 time frame show that the number of Italian companies' holdings abroad increased by 12,7 percent; if towards the end of the last decade the cases amounted to 31.672, in the 2015 they rose up to reach the 35.684 quota. Although partial, these data allow us to measure the economic dimension of an event that represents a form of delocalization.
“Unfortunately - declares the coordinator of the CGIA Studies Office Paolo Zabeo - there are no complete statistics able to accurately photograph the phenomenon of production delocalization. In fact, we do not know, for example, the number of companies that closed their business in Italy to move abroad. However, we are able to gradually measure the investments of Italian companies in the capital of foreign companies located abroad. A result, as shown by the data below, which does not always give rise to negative effects for our economy ”.
From the processing carried out by the CGIA Studies Office on the Reprint database of the Politecnico di Milano and the Ice, the only database in Italy capable of monitoring this phenomenon, it is also clear that in the period under consideration the number of employed abroad employed by companies with Italian participation decreased by 2,9 per cent (a contraction of just over 50.000 units). Turnover, on the other hand, increased by 8,3 per cent, recording an increase in absolute terms of turnover of over 40 billion euros. Also in 2015, the revenues of foreign companies controlled by ours reached 520,8 billion euros (see Tab.1).
Of the 35.684 cases registered in the 2015, over 14.400 (equal to 40,5 percent of the total) are attributable to companies in the commercial sector, mostly consisting of branches and commercial joint ventures of manufacturing companies. The other sector most interested in foreign holdings is the manufacturing sector which involved over 8.200 activities (equal to 23,1 per cent of the total): in particular those producing machinery, mechanical, metallurgical and metal products (See Table 2).
The main destination country for these investments is the United States: in the 2015, Italian holdings in US companies were higher than 3.300. Below we see France (2.551 cases), Romania (2.353), Spain (2.251), Germany (2.228), United Kingdom (1.991) and China (1.698) (See Table 3).
“Anyone who thought that the favorite destination of our investments abroad was Eastern Europe - reports the Secretary of the CGIA Renato Mason - will be surprised. With the exception of Romania, in the very first positions we see the countries with which commercial relations have always been very strong and with economies that are among the most advanced in the world ”.
The Italian regions most interested in foreign investments are Lombardy (11.637 participations), Veneto (5.070), Emilia Romagna (4.989) and Piedmont (3.244). Almost 78 per cent of the total investments are attributable to Italian companies located in the regions of Northern Italy (See Table 4) which, however, concludes Zabeo:
“They have almost physiological levels of unemployment and are considered, to all intents and purposes, areas with levels of industrialization among the highest in Europe. In fact, when the flight is not dictated by mere speculation of an opportunistic nature, these internationalization operations strengthen and make our companies more competitive with positive effects also in the territories of origin of the latter ".
Finally, from the CGIA, they reminded that in recent years, also following the effects of the economic crisis, there are not a few companies that have taken the road home. That is, they relocated to Italy. In Veneto and Emilia, for example, we point out the cases of Benetton, Bottega Veneta, Fitwell, Geox, Safilo, Piquadro, Wayel, Beghelli, Giesse and Argotractors.