My Research
Approfondimenti e analisi sulle ultime tendenze aziendali, innovazione e politiche—consegnati settimanalmente per Nordest, il principale quotidiano d’Italia.
(2025)
Creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem in a ‘knowledge desert’: the role of international connectivity and public institutional support
Our study of the MedTech sectors in Costa Rica’s Central Valley and Ireland’s West shows how regions once seen as knowledge deserts can grow through foreign investment—if backed by strong public support. Funding research, startups, and networks, together with global connectivity, turns external knowledge into lasting local innovation.
(2022)
Reshoring by small firms: dual sourcing strategies and local subcontracting in value chains
Our study of Italian micro and small enterprises in clothing and footwear shows that reshoring does not boost local subcontractor numbers but improves their productivity. Most firms adopt dual sourcing—keeping local suppliers while expanding abroad—revealing that local and global value chains can coexist and strengthen each other.
(2021)
Variety of Innovation in
Global Value Chains
This study examines how the geography and organization of global value chains shape firms’ innovation. Combining transaction cost economics with the Modularity-Maturity matrix, it identifies four innovation models based on the dispersion and control of value chain stages. Evidence from pharmaceuticals, bicycles, furniture, and wine shows that GVC structure strongly influences firms’ innovation cycles.
(2020)
Subsidiary upgrading and global value chain governance in the multinational enterprise
This study explores how multinational subsidiaries upgrade within global value chains governed by hierarchy. Based on a longitudinal case in the medical devices industry, it shows how a subsidiary can evolve from executing tasks to jointly coordinating the GVC. Innovation, rather than the end point of upgrading,
can mark the start of this new leadership phase.
(2018)
Knowledge integrators and the survival of manufacturing clusters
This study examines why some manufacturing clusters endure global competition while others decline. Comparing two ‘twin’ clusters in Northeast Italy, we find that production remains locally rooted when lead firms integrate global market insight with local technical know-how. These Knowledge Integrators sustain the competitiveness of their regional supplier networks.
