Enterprise Networks, Firm Performance and Bank-Firm Relationships

A salient feature of the Italian economy is its high reliance on small firms and local productive systems. For this reason, a relevant policy question is how the Italian production system can deal with the growing competition in global markets. The literature suggests that Italian economic system needs new mechanisms that help a coordination of all the phases of the production process, thereby fostering the development of economies of scale that are external to firms. In the last few years, Italy introduced a law about the network contract, to stimulate strategic cooperation among the firms in some specific areas, like innovation, internationalization and distribution. Subsequently, enterprise networks have started to emerge throughout the country. The aim of this paper is to make a first assessment on the impact of enterprise networks participation on firms' performance. The results show that enterprise network participation has a positive effect on firms' performance