Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

Anna Maria Costanza Rinaldi
single actions and decisions are guided internally by order relationships and externally by contractual
relationships.
To summarize, <strong>the</strong> enterprise can be considered like a production system <strong>of</strong> competences, that is, <strong>the</strong>
ability to create fur<strong>the</strong>r connections, where one aspect is to transform inputs into outputs.
The efficiency criteria from a systemic perspective cannot be anything different than <strong>the</strong>
“maximization” <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> production <strong>of</strong> competences.
3. The empirical research.
3.1 The data set.
The empirical research is based on a regional data set from administrative source (InfoCamere, that is
an i.t. consortium <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Italian chambers <strong>of</strong> commerce) made up <strong>of</strong> 254 holding companies with
registered <strong>of</strong>fice in Puglia in 2004. Manufacturing groups <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> list have been identified on <strong>the</strong> basis
<strong>of</strong> following alternative requisites: <strong>the</strong> existence <strong>of</strong> at least two production firms, one <strong>of</strong> which
operating in <strong>the</strong> manufacturing sector (Ateco 15-37); or <strong>the</strong> largest firm <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> group, in terms <strong>of</strong>
employees, being a manufacturing firm (Cainelli and Iacobucci, 2007). The research has been
conducted, generally on <strong>the</strong> premises <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> holding company, via a structured questionnaire during
direct interviews <strong>of</strong> all <strong>the</strong> 19 groups identified. The sample comprises groups vertically integrated
(47%) or, groups horizontally differentiated (34%). On <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand, 14% present hybrid
characteristics between <strong>the</strong> two structures, where <strong>the</strong> group enterprises are only partial sub-suppliers
one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r, and only for certain products series, directing <strong>the</strong> majority <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir production to <strong>the</strong>
market. Only a small percentage <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> groups analyzed (5%) can be classified as conglomerates,
whose units handle uncorrelated economic activities.
To contextualize <strong>the</strong> research results, it is preliminarily indispensable to restate <strong>the</strong> specificity <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
sample used. The typical group, <strong>the</strong> object <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> empirical research is manufacturing, small or
medium sized, whose structure is mainly horizontal, vertically integrated or horizontally differentiated,
with family ownership. The sample is uniform and it is plausible to believe that <strong>the</strong>se results can be
verified also outside <strong>the</strong> spatial dimension that characterizes <strong>the</strong>m. Unlike what maintained by
Williamson (1985, 1986), none <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> groups interviewed is lacking administrative control and
coordination.
3.2 The organization <strong>of</strong> production
The aim <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> empirical research is to understand <strong>the</strong> organization <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> group, starting from <strong>the</strong>
nature <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> main production function. I needed to verify, and <strong>the</strong>n describe, from an economic
perspective, <strong>the</strong> relevance, if any, <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> type <strong>of</strong> production process on <strong>the</strong> organization, including
juridical organization, <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> firm.
Suppose <strong>the</strong> n-th manufacturing group comprises <strong>the</strong> holding (h) and two subsidiaries (a and b) and
that <strong>the</strong>y manufacture only one good, x, where <strong>the</strong> production process can divided into two phases. In
this instance we can determine a few hypo<strong>the</strong>sis:
The relevant production function is performed only by firm a, while h and b are responsible for o<strong>the</strong>r
functions, for example, administration, finance and procurement.
The production function is performed by enterprises a and b, where each performs one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> two
phases, while h is responsible for administration, finance and procurement.
Enterprises a and b both perform <strong>the</strong> entire production process, while h performs administration,
finance and procurement.
In fact it is interesting to note that in vertical integrated groups, who have responded to <strong>the</strong> structured
questionnaire, <strong>the</strong> number <strong>of</strong> enterprises equals <strong>the</strong> number <strong>of</strong> elementary processes in which it is
possible to subdivide <strong>the</strong> production process <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> good.
The empirical evidence shows that if a possibility to break <strong>the</strong> process exists, <strong>the</strong> management will
create an autonomous legal entity, finding it convenient, in <strong>the</strong> terms described above.
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