The Milan Chamber of Commerce, together with Prof. Fabrizio Onida of Bocconi University, and in conjunction with Milan Polytechnic, has conducted a study on foreign multinationals.
In Milan alone, almost 3,000 foreign multinationals operate with over 320,000 employees and annual revenues of € 169 billion.
Milan is confirmed as the entry portal for foreign investments in our country: 52 percent of the total foreign equity investments in Italy are located in Lombardy (42 percent in Milan), equal to 50 percent of the revenues and 48 percent of the human resources employed (43 and 38 percent in Milan, respectively).
Milan and its hinterland are preferred locations nationally for the headquarters of the Italian subsidiaries of foreign multinationals active in the service industries. Milan province also continues to maintain a significant position in manufacturing, especially in the more high-tech sectors (in particular, chemicals-pharmaceuticals, electrical and electronic products and machinery).
Among the factors that in recent years have helped Lombardy attract 43 percent of the HQs of new foreign investments, some are strongly rooted in the regional context:
- the broad availability of production services provided by highly specialized personnel
- the work accomplished by the numerous academic and research institutions
- the strategic role played by the Milan Stock Exchange and the trade fair system.
Milan is a metropolitan system that extends well beyond its geographical confines to the entire area of Lombardy, with which it shares complementary economic factors that generate competitive efficiency, productivity and social structure that make it one of the most advanced regions on an international scale.
Milan and Lombardy also stand at the crossroads of the principal European economic flows and the major transnational communication networks: in particular, the area represents a natural hub, with respect to the Mediterranean, for flows arriving from Southeast Asia directed toward continental Europe and the Atlantic, and vice versa.
The survey sought answers to the following questions:
1. What have been the trends in foreign investment in Lombardy and Milan province in the past 20 years?
2. What would emerge from a comparison of the principal financial ratios for the past 15 years of the principal foreign-owned companies (multinational enterprises, MNEs) with headquarters in Lombardy with the ratios for a sampling of Italian-owned Lombard companies (comparable in average size and industrial sector)?
3. What indications can be drawn from 36 intensive interviews with top managers of foreign multinationals on topics ranging from intra-group relations to local suppliers, the importance of the Italian domestic market compared to production for the global market, the types of capital and R&D investments for innovation, and the attraction of Italy and Lombardy?
Structure of the survey
- Situation and trends of FDIs in Milan and Lombardy within a national and international context
- Companies with foreign capital and Lombard firms: an analysis of financial statement data
- Foreign-controlled companies, market, resources, and the national and Lombard production systems
Foreign equity investments in Lombardy
- The passive internationalization of Lombard and Milanese companies
- Foreign direct investments by industry
- Foreign direct investments by country of origin
- Companies with foreign capital and Lombard firms: financial statement data compared
Foreign-owned companies (MNEs) and regional and national production systems: indications from the interviews
- Importance and composition of the Italian market
- Company relations with the parent group network
- Impact on the labor market and relations with suppliers
- Investments, research and innovation
- Territorial attraction and relations with the institutions
For greater detail read the full version of the study (pdf format).
Copyright © 2007 EGEA S.p.A.