Abstract

In the last decades many industrialised countries have experienced an international fragmentation of the production chain. Since the second half of the nineties the Italian firms are experiencing a growing process of relocation of production activities abroad. This process mainly regards firms operating in the so called "made in Italy" sectors. The purpose of our work is to analyze the international delocalisation process in "made in Italy" sectors. First, we investigate the factors that account for the decision to move abroad the production. Second, we attempt to measure the phenomenon and to describe its evolution and the geographical patterns. Third, we discuss the effects of the international fragmentation of production on firms and on local production systems.