Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
and types of firms. A visible 'innovation divide' pattern emerges
in terms of the perception of obstacles, in which firms in the
North and the Centre of Italy tend to perceive the obstacles to
innovation as less significant than those located in the South.
In particular, firms located in the North and the Centre generally
tend to evaluate a lack of financial resources as an impediment
to innovative activity significantly less than firms located in the
South; the result is the same in relation to information on technol-
ogy and markets, especially for firms located in the North-West
of Italy. Furthermore, when the estimation is carried out on sub-
samples of firms by type, geographical specificities in the percep-
tion of the obstacles to innovation are shown to characterize only
single domestic firms. In other words, the perception of obstacles
to innovation does not significantly differ across regions, unless
the firm is a single domestic firm.
In terms of firm types, the major difference in the perception of
obstacles occurs between firms belonging to a group (foreign and
Italian) and single domestic firms, rather than between firms with
different nationality ownership. We find that firms belonging to a
multiplant group structure tend to perceive obstacles to innova-
tion as being relevant significantly less than single domestic firms,
with the exception of a lack of organizational flexibility. Thus,
firms belonging to a group - both foreign and Italian - appear to
be less sensitive to the socio-economic and institutional context
than single domestic firms. This pattern is however more pro-
nounced in the case of foreign MNEs, which also emerge as the
most innovative firms, regardless of their geographical location.
Interestingly, foreign MNEs show coefficients significantly lower
than those of Italian groups for most obstacles. This is the case
for obstacles of an economic/financial nature, for those related
to the lack of information of technology and also in the case of
regulation rigidities, which one might have expected to be more of
a hindrance for foreign-owned than for Italian-owned firms. Italian
groups, instead, tend to be less sensitive than foreign MNEs to
barriers related to the lack of information on markets - which is
not entirely surprising as they have stronger ties with the local
economy - and to the lack of organizational flexibility.
Source:
Adapted from Iammarino et al. 2009.
