Integracja europejska a sektor małych i średnich przedsiębiorstw doświadczenia włoskie

Abstract This paper discusses the Italian way of industrialization after WWWII, with special reference to the “Italian Industrial Districts”, from their emergence as a propulsive force of economic growth in the Seventies, through their golden age in the Eighties and early Nineties, to the signs of slow down of the second part of the Nineties and early ‘2000. It highlights the complex set of International and Italian macroeconomic conditions, cultural and social factors (social capability) and sectorial specialisation in an progressively integrated European market that were at the root of their success. It also underlines the role of the external economies in overcoming the drawbacks of the lack of organizational-entrepreneurial factor that characterise the Italian small firms. The paper in the conclusions stresses the need to look at a broad set of internal and external circumstances when designing policies for SME’s.