Le esportazioni dei sistemi produttivi locali di piccole e medie imprese nel 2005: i risultati dell'utilizzo di nuove metodologie e fonti statistiche

Exports of small and medium enterprises local productive systems: results of new methodologies and statistical sources - This paper presents findings of a new methodology to attribute national exports to the Local Labour Market Area (LLMA). This methodology allows overcoming limitations due to the use of administrative units, i. e. provinces (NUTS 3), for foreign trade analysis. Methods The methodology is based on several Istat databases (Foreign Trade, Statistic Archive of Active Enterprises and Local Units Archive). In the first part of the work, sources and methodology are described, the second part is devoted to aggregated and macro-sectors results. Results The results show for 2005 that 37.5% of national exports of manufactured goods derived from local systems of small and medium enterprises. The analysis of the exporter enterprises in the 2005-2007 panel, shows that the contribution of these local systems grew slightly from 37.3% in 2005 to 37.5% in 2007. Conclusions The export performance analysis shows different results for Center-North and South LLMA. In southern regions, in spite of lower export activities, there are local systems with significant levels of performance on international markets. JEL: C81, F10, R11, R12 Keywords: export, province of departure, microeconomic data, sectorial specialization, local labour market areas (LLMAS), industrial districts. Parole chiave: esportazioni, provincia di origine, dati microeconomici, specializzazione settoriale, sistema locale del lavoro, distretti industriali.