As Italian-run businesses have
struggled to survive in recent years, ones set up by immigrants
in Italy have seen double-digit growth, according to a study by
the banking group Intesa Sanpaolo.
"In recent years (2011-15), in fact, the overall reduction of
0.9% of businesses is the combination of a 2.9% drop for Italian
businesses and a 21.3% increase for immigrant-run ones.
The study shows that the success of businesses run by
immigrants is their ability to react to crises, for example by
increasing sales.
The study on immigrant-run businesses in Italy analyzes -
within the period running from 2012 until 2015 - the economic
and financial performance of businesses and the competitive
positioning of a sample of over 135,000 manufacturing businesses
and some service ones that are the most open to the market
(hotels and restaurants, business services, ICT, transport and
logistics).
The study shows that entrepreneurship in Italy has long
included a significant share of immigrant-run businesses.
In recent years and especially during the recent major
recession, the trend became even more pronounced: at the end of
2015, the share of businesses run by immigrant entrepreneurs
stood at 9.1% of the total.
The study brought to light that immigrant-run businesses took
on an ever greater importance during the recession, paring down
the effects of "birthrates" of Italian-run ones and broadening
and diversifying the products and services on offer.
Entrepreneurs in Italy come mostly from Eastern Europe
(37.7%) and Asia (32.8%), while 15.6% come from Africa and 13.9%
from Latin America.
They create jobs, though usually low-paying ones. The cost of
work per employee in immigrant-run businesses is much lower than
that in Italian-run ones (about 21,000 euros per year compared
with 30,000).
What seems to have been the key to the success of
immigrant-run businesses is their ability to react to crises.
Immigrant-run businesses experienced higher growth than their
Italian counterparts between 2012 and 2015: +17.7% compared with
+10.1% for sales, +26.6% compared with +14.4% for jobs and
+37.0% compared with +19.5% for total assets.
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