The first occurred in the sixties, which saw the industrialisation of the region. The second acceleration took place in the eighties, when the “success” of the area was already obvious and made the Treviso area a point of reference in national and European development. The third turning point is still in progress and consists of the passage – moreover necessary – from a spontaneous, extended type of development to an intensive one that, in other words, concentrates on investment in know-how and relationships.
There are currently at least five specificities of the local economy, the major assets that distinguish the productive concerns of the province and they touch on the aspects on industrialisation, entrepreneurship, the region, foreign trade and the labour market.
Perhaps the
aspect that is most obvious to whoever observes the set-up of the area is the
high level of industrialisation: Treviso is the eighth Italian province for
number of local manufacturing units and fifth in terms of factory workers in
a strict sense, that is without the building trade (148 thousand in 2000, according
to Istat – Central Statistics Institute) equivalent to 43% of the whole
provincial workforce.It should be considered that in Italy factory workers, as defined above, represent 23% of the workforce and 34% in the Veneto area, making it the most industrialised region in the country after Lombardy.
If we instead take the entire secondary market – including the building trade – there are 172 thousand employees, equivalent to half the province’s employment figures.
Approximately 41% of the province’s total income is therefore produced in industry, while the rate of employment is particularly important in the metal and mechanical sector – especially in the fabrication of metal products and mechanical equipment – and in fashion. The timber, furniture, rubber and plastics and food industries also register a good presence.
It should also be added that this strong, widespread manufacturing propensity, which has deep historical roots, is encouraging a significant advanced tertiary sector, comprising services to companies and financial brokerage.
It is a sign that regional development by now aims at the intensive dimension, where tertiary intelligence combines with manufacturing requirements. A somewhat late start was made in this process (those employed in the services sector in the Treviso area are 44%, against 54% in the Veneto region), but the determination to catch up is evident.
The second,
valid point distinguishing the local economy is the abundance of entrepreneurs.An abundance that is summed up by the following figures: one active enterprise for every nine inhabitants and one entrepreneurial position (owner, partner or director) for every six inhabitants, agriculture included.
Entrepreneurship is widespread due to historical and sociocultural types of reasons, which can be traced back both to the sharecropping families, accustomed to enterprise and business risk, and to a spreading by spin-off of employees, who have easily set themselves up in business, thereby becoming new businessmen.
Even today family-run businesses are still favoured: in Treviso – agriculture excluded – the individual concerns are 57.2% of all the firms, while the most evolved forms of companies, such as joint-stock companies, are 14.6%.
A sign of deep change (even though at the beginning) is the presence of foreign businessmen, amounting to 4.3% of all entrepreneurs.
This is equivalent to more than 5300 persons, who often come from Treviso families that emigrated in the past and put Treviso in thirteenth place in Italy. The “true” foreign businessmen, however, are also increasing: non-EEC persons coming mostly from eastern Europe, central Africa and Maghreb, which are the areas that generate most migration towards the Treviso region.
The third aspect
comes from the region or rather from its productive “organisation”.
For historical reasons there is a tight-knit network of mostly small and medium
size firms with figures as follows. 43.1% of the workforce is in firms with
1-9 employees, while 30.9% of the workforce is to be found in firms with 10-49
employees; the rest work in firms with 50 or more employees.This predominance of small firms under no circumstances means economic marginality or insubstantiality, such as an old mass-production vision could suggest. Instead, almost all the firms in the region (97%) work from a local standpoint that, as is known, allows small firms to be “great”, acting as a production network with a well-organised internal division of work, obviously alongside truly great companies whose names are by now renowned worldwide.
The industrial districts and specialised areas that make up the provincial geoeconomy are also well-known (and have even become case studies): from Inox Valley in the Conegliano area to the tiles of Possagno, from the glasses of Segusino to the furniture of Opitergino-Mottense, without forgetting the most well-known case of the sports system of Montebelluna-Asolo, which produces among other things 75% of the world’s ski boots and 65% of après-ski footwear.
A fourth, remarkable
major asset of the Treviso area is its high degree of productive internationalisation,
true atout in the economic globalisation. The propensity for internationalisation
(exports + imports / added value) is equivalent to 55%, compared to the national
average of 41.7%.In 2000, imports amounted to 7015 billions and exports to 15381 billions, equivalent to over 19 millions of exported value per inhabitant. The trade balance reached 8366 billions – more than triple the national figure and half that of the Veneto. Treviso exports– always referred to 2000- are about as much as the whole of Sicily and Sardinia export together.
Furthermore, Germany, France and the USA – in that order – are the three main market outlets of made in Treviso products, which in any case present a sufficient degree of diversification. In fact, the first ten market outlet countries receive no more than 63% of the total exports, which consist of footwear, furniture, machines, textiles and clothing.
It is also worth reflecting on the fact that the production internationalisation of the province can be seen in the relocation in progress in Rumania (in first place), Hungary and Croatia and in the imports from these countries, especially of products connected with the fashion sector and also of machines. It is obvious that an international adjustment in the manufacturing system is in progress and that Treviso is looking decidedly to nearby eastern Europe.
In 2000, Rumania – where there is a strong presence of businesses from the Treviso area – became the sixth purchasing country and the second seller (exceeding even France) for Treviso merchandise; in practice, a strategic area for local production networks.
Lastly, the
labour market, which has a negligible unemployment rate of 2.6% (which drops
to 1.6% for men!) and a high rate of activity (52.8%) resulting in a notable
lack of labour, caused – on the supply side – by a fall in the birth-rate
that, despite some faint-hearted surges, remains far below the necessary numbers
required by a constantly dynamic labour market.This explains the extremely fast growth in the migratory trend, which has led to the presence in the province today of more than 30 thousand immigrants – equivalent to about 4% of the overall population.
This figure is more than double that of five years ago and represents a kaleidoscope of 136 nationalities. There are 17 thousand non-EEC workers in the province working mostly in the mechanics, building and timber/furniture sectors.
By now more than 15% of overall recruitment (a percentage that rises in certain more industrialised municipalities) is taken from the supply of non-EEC persons, who are becoming an increasingly more necessary and essential component for a fully functional local economy: this will mean that in about twenty years one person in six in the north east of Italy will be an immigrant or descendant of immigrants.
A brief macroeconomic overview has emerged from the above five “photographs”; an overview that puts the province in seventh place in the annual classification of the Italian provinces for “business and work” published by the Sole-24 Ore (11 December 2000).
The five points at the same time represent areas of undoubted excellence as of critical state in regenerating the actual factors of development.
As has been said, herein lies the challenge of this region for the next few years: to continue to watch over the advanced confines of competitiveness on a global scale by investing in more intensive production, in other words where the added value is generated more and more by the cognitive and relational aspects.
Research Office Unindustria Treviso