Mould and die makers for the automotive industry in Italy

摘要

Generally speaking, Italy is known worldwide for a strong specialisation in fashion/luxury products, but the perception of the country's international position in the mechanical industry is scarce. Very few people know that Italy is the fourth world producer of moulds and dies (the second in Europe) and the third exporter. In this paper, we analyse the recent evolution of this industry in Italy using a sample of around 200 firms: through an analysis of their balance sheets, we can observe two main elements. The first is a general competitive pressure from new industrialised countries (Eastern Europe, Turkey, China, India, etc.) that are able to offer moulds and dies at a lower price than Italian and European firms. The second element concerns the better performances of firms specialising in supply to automotive groups; they show a larger size and proactive strategies that allow them to transform their businesses from traditional subcontracting shops to modern industrial firms.