Abstract

The study addresses the issue of the possible contribution of large firms to the growth of the Italian industrial system shortly before the single European currency. Our research has required to understand the behaviour and characteristics of large firms throughout the ups and downs of business cycles. We analysed the role of technical progress and of the related organisational changes, the effects of the evolution of political scenarios, the fall outs of financial management. At the moment, as a matter of fact, the Italian large firms are systems connecting several different and highly specialised operational units; the resulting network is a complex structure from which significant improvements of efficiency may derive, especially in the light of progress in telecommunication and information systems.