Italian Network Contracts: a new instrument for successful cooperation

The study focuses on SMEs which decide to develope inter-firm cooperation through”network contracts”, the purpose is to evaluate the usefulness of this new legal instrument provided by Italian law in 2010. In particular the paper aims to verify the ability of a “contract” to formalize an inter-firm relationship allowing a successful cooperation between SMEs. Moreover it identifies and analyzes the characteristics of networks based on this flexible contract, looking for the reasons why it should ensure, to the involved firms, an increased performance. After a preliminary secondary data review, conducted on 3300 firms (which signed network contracts between 2010 and 2012) aimed at identify the sectorial, territorial and dimensional peculiarity of this networks; the phenomenon is investigated through 5 case studies looking for field evidence, on the advantages perceived by firms signing network contract, by identifying the elements of the contract able to support successful networks. Moreover, a first attempt to measure the effect of contract networks on performance is realized through a descriptive statistical analysis of the Return on Investment (ROI) on a sample of 122 network firms. The study main findings are the identifications of the reasons of effectiveness of network contracts and the advantages potentially achieved by network firms because of the contract. The study allows the identification of recommendation about industrial policy regarding SMEs, mainly suggesting Governments to incentive the participation of SMEs to networks by introducing network contracts.