Internazionalizzazione delle reti di fornitura: imprese distrettuali e non distrettuali a confronto

The paper will compare supply network strategies of district firms (ID) and non-district (non-ID) firms with the aim of outlining emerging strategies as well as identifying similarities and differences between business models. The quantitative analysis developed in the paper is on the TeDIS survey focused on 45 leading Italian districts and SMEs located outside districts in Made in Italy sectors. Results refer to about 800 Italian firms. Results show that there are more similarities than differences between the approach of ID and non-ID companies to supply networks. ID firms rely more on local systems in terms of supply networks, while non-ID firms have also invested at national level. The global geographical extension of supply networks stresses the ID companies’ search for efficiency in addition to value-added competences. Non-ID firms have a more hierarchical approach to internationalization than ID firms, but differences decrease as the size of the companies increases.