Knowledge and Capabilities in Subcontractors' Evolution: The Italian Case

This paper discusses the impact of globalization processes on subcontractor companies in Italy. The authors explore if and to what extent Italian subcontractors differ and can be classified on the basis of their design and marketing capabilities. Using such a segmentation as a starting point, the authors also use data from 10 in-depth subcontractors’ case studies to develop a model of how subcontractors’ capabilities co-evolve over time and identify typical subcontractors’ evolutionary patterns, showing how the transition from one profile to another may take place.

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