INDUSTRIAL POLICY FOR SMES
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2022/2023
- Teacher
- LAURETTA RUBINI
- Credits
- 7
- Curriculum
- Small and medium enterprises(SMEs) in international markets
- Didactic period
- Primo Semestre
- SSD
- SECS-P/06
Training objectives
- The course aims to provide a detailed and updated picture on the industrial dynamics affecting SMEs (small and medium enterprises). In particular, specific aspects will be illustrated and discussed, such as the definition on SMEs, as well as the features, potentialities and weaknesses of groups and systems of firms. Wide room will be devoted to industrial policy measures specifically targeting smaller companies, and to the most recent policies introduced in reaction to crisis, such as the current pandemic. Finally, the course will tackle the green industrial policies, with specific reference to environmental sustainability and circular economy.
More specifically, the training objectives are the following:
1. to develop the capacity to understand and critically analise the evolution of the competitive context and of the contemporary challenges that SMEs have to face, such as the evolution of value chains, industry 4.0, the environmental and social sustainability, the new innovative dynamics;
2. to analyze some of the main industrial policy measures tackling specific SMEs difficulties, in order to support their competitive capacity at national, but most of at international, level;
3. To acquire a critical vision of the above mentioned aspects, allowing to identify opportunites and criticalities related not only to the evolution of the competitive environment in which SMEs operate, but also to the industrial policies implemented by the different government levels (local, national and supra-national);
4. to understand the specific aspect related to the issues of sustainability, that already play – and will play even more in the future – a key role for the survival and success of SMEs. Prerequisites
- None. Nevertheless, having passed the exams of microeconomics or industrial economics and policy guarantees the possession of the basic knowledge and facilitates the absorption of the concepts that will illustrated and discussed during the course.
Course programme
- 1) What are SMEs? (2 hours)
a. Definition and relevance
2) Systems of SMEs and cluster policies (8 hours)
a. Industrial districts
b. clusters
c. groups
d. networks
e. open innovation
3) Industrial policy (4 hours)
a. Definition and debate
4) Innovation policies (16 hours)
a. Innovation policies (and systems for innovation)
b. Cluster policies
c. Industry 4.0
d. S3 policies (smart specialization)
5) Coronavirus, NRRPs and IP (8 hours)
6) Green industrial policy (16 hours)
a. An environmental agenda for the world: from sustainability to climate change
b. The Circular economy notion: theoretical roots and practical issues
c. Globalization: innovation, international chains and the environment
d. Market structure, firms and the environment: competition and product differentiation
e. Market structure, firms and the environment: the energy industry
f. Market structure, firms and the environment: the waste industry
g. A focus on green innovation
h. The EU policies for Circular economy Didactic methods
- The course will be held through lecturing, frequently integrated with discussions in class and steady use of examples and case studies.
Learning assessment procedures
- ATTENDING STUDENTS: Learning will be assessed by means of group works that will take place during the course, that will get an overall evaluation expressed in thirtieths. Such evaluation will then be added to the result of a written exam with 5 multiple choice questions (4 available options: 1 right giving right to 1 point; 2 wrong resulting in 0 points and 1 “very wrong” option valued -1). TO BE CONSIDERED AS ATTENDING STUDENTS IT IS COMPULSORY TO TAKE PART IN THE GROUP WORKS.
NON ATTENDING STUDENTS: Learning will be assessed by means of a written exam with 5 open questions, each of which has a maximum score of 6.5 points Reference texts
- ATTENDING students may prepare the exam using the slides used during the lectures, provided that these are adequately integrated with notes taken during classes and with possible references given by teachers during the course.
NON ATTENDING students will have to prepare the exam referring to the following material:
PART 1:
- Berisha, G., & Pula, J. S. (2015). Defining Small and Medium Enterprises: a critical review. Academic Journal of Business, Administration, Law and Social Sciences, 1(1), 17-28.
- Kushnir K., Mirmulstein M.L., Ramalho R. (2010). Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises around the World: How many are there, and what affects the count? , MSME country Indicators, 2010, 1-9.
PART 2:
- Morrison A. (2008) Gatekeepers of Knowledge within Industrial Districts: Who They Are, How They Interact, Regional Studies, 42:6, 817-835.
- Shimotani M. (1999), Japanese Corporate Aggregates and “Keiretsu”, Kyoto University Economic Review, APRIL/OCTOBER 1999, Vol. 68, pp. 37-51.
- Barbieri E., Di Tommaso M.R., Pollio C. and Rubini L. (2019), Industrial Policy in China: The planned growth of specialised towns in Guangdong Province, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 12: 401-422.
- Ponte S. and Sturgeon T. (2014) Explaining governance in global value chains: A modular theory-building effort, Review of International Political Economy, 21:1, 195-223.
- Jung D.-H. (2004) Korean Chaebol in Transition, China Report, 40, 3, pp. 299-303.
PART 3:
- Di Tommaso M.R. and Schweitzer S.O. (2013) Industrial policy: tools, targets and goals, in Di Tommaso M.R. and Schweitzer S.O., Industrial policy in America: breaking the taboo, pp. 1-42.
PART 4:
- Van de Vrande, V., De Jong, J. P., Vanhaverbeke, W., & De Rochemont, M. (2009). Open innovation in SMEs: Trends, motives and management challenges. Technovation, 29(6-7), 423-437.
- Kukharuk, A., & Gavrysh, J. (2019, March). Competitiveness of SMEs in Terms of Industry 4.0. In 2019 International Conference on Creative Business for Smart and Sustainable Growth (CREBUS) (pp. 1-4). IEEE.
- Hervás-Oliver, J. L., Parrilli, M. D., Rodríguez-Pose, A., & Sempere-Ripoll, F. (2021). The drivers of SME innovation in the regions of the EU. Research Policy, 50(9), 104316.
- Farole, T., Rodríguez-Pose, A., & Storper, M. (2011). Cohesion policy in the European Union: growth, geography, institutions. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 49(5), 1089-1111.
- Foray D. and Rainoldi A. (2020), Smart Specialization Strategy (S3) – A policy brief from the Policy Learning Platforms on Research and Innovation, European Union.
- Interreg Europe, Fostering the digital transformation of SMEs, European Union.
- Philip Ross & Kasia Maynard (2021) Towards a 4th industrial revolution, Intelligent Buildings International, 13:3, 159-161
PART 5:
- Juergensen J., Guimón J., Narula R. (2020), European SMEs amidst the COVID-19 crisis: assessing impact and policy responses, Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, 47, pp. 499-510.
- Cugno, M., Castagnoli, R., Büchi, G., & Pini, M. (2022). Industry 4.0 and production recovery in the covid era. Technovation, 114, 102443.
- Maranzano, P., Noera, M., & Romano, R. (2021). The European industrial challenge and the Italian NRRP. PSL Quarterly Review, 74(298).
PART 6:
- Boulding K., 1966, The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth, www.laceiba.org.mx/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Boulding-1996-The-economics-of-the-coming-spaceship-earth.pdf
- Silvestri, F., Spigarelli, F., & Tassinari, M. (2020). Regional development of Circular Economy in the European Union: A multidimensional analysis. Journal of Cleaner Production, 255, 120218.
- Porter M. E, van der Linde C, 1995, Green and Competitive" Harvard Business Review.
- Reggiani, C., Silvestri, F. (2018) Municipal Solid Waste, Market Competition and the EU Policy. Environ Resource Econ 71, 457–474.
- Gaeta, G. L., Ghinoi, S., Silvestri, F., & Tassinari, M. (2021). Innovation in the solid waste management industry: Integrating neoclassical and complexity theory perspectives. Waste Management, 120, 50-58.
- Romani, I., Galeotti, M., & Lanza, A. (2022). Besides promising economic growth, will the Italian NRRP also produce fewer emissions? (No. 2022.08).
