Local Networks to Compete in the Global Era. The Italian SMEs Experience

This study is concerned with the factors that influence the cooperation among cluster-based firms. Theorists have consistently demonstrated the role and importance of economic externalities, such as knowledge spillovers, within industrial clusters. Less attention has been paid to the investigation of social based externalities, though it has been suggested that these may also accrue from geographical agglomeration. This study explores the development of cooperation between firms operating in a single industry sector and in close proximity. The results suggest that social networking has a greater influence than geographic proximity in facilitating inter-firm co-operation. A semi-structured questionnaire has been developed and the answers were analysed with a stepwise regression model.Networks, Inter-Firm Cooperation, SMEs

Consumer Credit and Italian Families

Recourse to credit is connected to the attitude and in particular to the cognitive component that determines the decisional sphere of a subject. Also emotional and behavioural roots influence recourse to credit. . The countries of Europe present a different financial system, which reflects the fragmentation of the euro financial market. Therefore, there is a link between the financial markets of individual countries and the credit conditions in the sovereign debt markets. As well as, a deterioration of the financial sector at the national level could lead to an increase in sovereign risk. In turn, the psychological component of individuals, as well as the socio-cultural component, have a strong impulse on individuals' consumption credit choices. These elements are very evident in Italy, where families prefer consumer credit as a form of indebtedness, often to finance ephemeral good