Abstract

The paper aims to draw a picture of the Italian mechanical engineering industry which provides capital goods for many industries, positioning itself as an intermediate branch into the entire manufacturing industry. In Italy mechanical engineering plays a role of great productive and strategic importance in terms of value added and employment, for the density of its connections between sectors and for its high propensity to export and the substantial rates of technological innovation. Thanks to the data of the last Census of Industry and Services (istat), the paper analyzes the mechanical engineering's industrial structure in terms of businesses, employees, average size, birth rates and mortality, up to the territorial specialization's degrees. Given the importance of innovative processes in this industrial branch interrelated in many manufacturing sectors, we study the business strategies pursued in the field of research and development and innovation. The paper finally presents an analysis of the business budget performance for 2007-2012 in terms of turnover, productivity and profitability for a sample of companies in the sector by comparing it with the Italian manufacturing industry.