In Lombardy grow the exports, not the enterprise networks

Internationalize and innovate. These are the verbs that resonate in the meetings on the health of businesses in times of recession. Internationalizing is a sort of commandment that you cannot ignore, but it is unclear whether it should come before, after or during the process of innovation. A young entrepreneur, Luca Donelli of Donelli-Alexo, a company adhering to the Energy Cluster (network of companies operating in the energy sector), during a recent conference devoted to business combinations, said that the two moments can also coincide because "by internationalizing you can choose to go in large countries where there are small margins." Or, with a gesture old but innovative these days "to take a suitcase and leave for unknown and small markets. Even better if you do it with someone else, even if they are a competitor. You will then be able to make big margins. "

Lombard entrepreneurs returned to pack up, as before the crisis. Data from the annual report on the internationalization of Lombard enterprises, presented at the headquarters of Confindustria of Alto Milanese in Legnano, say that the level of exports in 2011 rose by 8.4% compared to 2010, for a total of over 104 billion Euros, reaching the highest peak of the last ten years.

Although they are not too far from Europe, with France, Germany and Switzerland topped the list of countries favoured by entrepreneurs, new markets, the non-EU ones, begin to have interesting numbers. The UAE are increased by 36.1%, Brazil +23.6%, Turkey +23.6%, China and Russia amounted to +11%. This trend is confirmed also by estimates for the biennium 2012-2014: 18% of 1400 companies that were part of the sample group have said they would develop their business in a country in Central and Eastern Europe not belonging to the European Union. "The business”  said Gian Angelo Mainini, President of Confindustria Alto Milanese ”Is developing on distant markets where competition is more intense. Then you need to support companies in this phase with specialised services, including the organisation of missions abroad. In June we will go to Russia. "

The most internationalized companies are industrial (77%) for the vast majority belonging to the manufacturing industry of mechanics and transport, fashion industry and electronic products. These are mostly small firms: 48.1% had less than 15 employees and 76.6% have fewer than 50 employees.

Even in the conference in Legnano, to overcome the "stunting" of firms and increase the critical mass necessary for low impact with foreign markets, there has been talk of mergers and business networks, a theme too magnified compared to reality. The report says that 30% of respondents said they were willing to consider the possibility of joining other companies to internationalize. These intentions, because so far in Italy enterprise networks are little more than three hundred. Still too few, therefore, to speak of already significant experience in Lombardy. "It’s true” confirms Barcella Alberto, president of Confindustria Lombardia, “but the networks are an evolution of industrial districts, they are something new, and therefore should be supported because they allow companies to reach a suitable size for penetrating difficult markets, given the difficulty of domestic demand. There are already companies that operate as a network for distribution of products on the Russian market. The network can be used for research, an example is Intellimech, born at Red Kilometer of Bergamo, involving companies of different sizes. "

There can be internationalization, innovation and even less, with no money. Entrepreneurs therefore ask banks – Intesa San paolo was among the partners of Legnano – and the institutions to do their part. "The cuts have reduced the resources in its death throes” concluded Andrea Gibelli, vice president of the Lombardy Region councillor for productive activities.- “But we made a deal for 500 million euros with the European Investment Bank (EIB) which will allow many companies in Lombardy to face this moment with interventions to support the circulation. Also, the entrepreneur no longer has to physically go to the Lombardy Region offices, because they can access all the information and funding notices directly from our site. The monitoring of our servers has revealed that the connections are made mostly between the hours of 18 and 21. Sign that our entrepreneurs rise to the first gate, and after working for more time to undertake the future of their company. "