Who's Monitoring Italian Industry? Industry Analyses "Made in Italy" and the Role of Internet in their Distribution

Who's Monitoring Italian Industry?
Industry Analyses "Made in Italy" and the Role of Internet in their Distribution

Up To infotechnologies (www.uptoit.org)

Mediterranean Notebook #1

Published in: Business Information Searcher, 2000;10(1):14-18

The scope of this column is to highlight information issues regarding Italy of broad European interest. Although one cannot pretend that Italy is a leader in the global information industry, we have observed many exciting initiatives and have seen the Italian market for information services gain momentum. With this column, we hope to promote these initiatives, further involve Italy in the global information industry, and stimulate a critical discussion about information resources in Italy. To this end, we will evaluate information products and services, and discuss trends in the Italian information industry. Our first article looks at the availability of market research reports; these reports are often the starting point for further, detailed investigations into a business sector. Thus, they make an appropriate subject for a first article about business information in Italy.

It is the dream of any business information searcher to pinpoint a market research report, packed with tabular data and comments, as the basis for more detailed investigations. As information researchers in Italy, it is often our role to find such reports for foreign clients. It is our dream, then, to dip into a database with an industry name as key word, and to identify the best source for a recent study. In Italy, there is a wealth of industry associations, expositions, and market research firms, all possible sources of analyses. However, there is no one-stop shop - no bookstore, database or Web-based aggregator - that specializes in Italian industrial information.

International operators offer a selection of Italian market analyses. Internet-based aggregators of market research, such as IMR Mall, Marketsearch, Findex and Deep Canyon, include documents about Italy, particularly from the major research agencies, but also from lesser known firms. Many internationally recognized business consulting agencies operate in Italy, and major database hosts offer files which aggregate market data from various sources. Certain Italian research firms are recognized internationally for their production of quality analyses and for the broad range of topics covered, for example:

Databank publishes studies on 350 industries, covering 1200 sectors and 10 000 Italian companies. Databank maintains a bilingual Web site with browse and search features, and gives free access to s of contents and lists of tables. The full reports are in Italian, although many have abbreviated versions in English, available in the file Mast on DataStar. The principal industries investigated by Databank are: food and beverages, textiles, clothing, jewelry, furniture, electronics, information and communications technology, chemistry, plastics, paper, printing, publishing, construction, services, distribution, finance and credit.
Prometeia studies and write forecasts on 150 Italian microeconomic sectors, broadly organized into the categories: consumer products, fashion, home, transport, mechanical instruments, high tech, electronics, commodities, industrial subcontracting, construction, distribution, transportation means, services, utilities and agriculture.

When investigating an Italian industry, a business searcher is wise to consider the editorial production of these firms, while recognizing the high costs of their analyses. A broad selection of more reasonably priced studies may be found at:

Istat, the Italian Statistics Institute produces statistical reports in 14 broad sectors: agriculture, industry, services, environment, foreign trade, work, prices, health care, population, culture, family-society, public administration, justice, and national balance. For each of these sectors, the Istat Web site presents a list of current documents, which may variably be downloaded at no cost or purchased.

Still, the complete offer of Italian industry analyses is not covered by this international panorama. In fact, many Italian industry reports are produced singly by industrial associations, public bodies and specialty publishers. These "second-tier" reports are often overlooked as sources of business intelligence, despite their generally low costs, because they are not distributed by the major channels. In this light, we were interested to "map out" the Italian production of industry analyses, and to understand the role of Internet in their distribution.

Industry Analyses Promoted in the Italian Internet

We set out to examine the offer of Italian-made market research reports not distributed via the major channels (i.e. excluding the "top-tier" reports available from multinational research firms and database servers). We conducted an Internet-based search for recent (1998-2000) publications by professional or industrial associations and by public bodies. We looked for information on production, import-export, trends, consumption, leading companies, etc., and did not consider technical or normative studies. We excluded documents not having national scope, general studies on the Italian economy, and reports on demographics or social issues. We focused our search into three main categories as follows: (1) manufacturing, (2) services, and (3) food, agriculture and environment. Further criteria were the availability in Internet of either (1) the actual documents for downloading (in any format, e.g. doc, pdf, html or xls), or (2) descriptions of the document (e.g. table of contents, abstract, physical form) and information on how to obtain it.

Our research was based on the search engines Altavista (limiting to Italian-language sites), and the Yahoo!-like directory Virgilio. We also used the Italian libraries catalog, Internet Bookshop Italia, and La Città del Libro, a guide to books in print. We searched for the words "rapporto", "osservatorio" and "annuario". We visited the sites of hundreds of industrial associations, whose names were taken from the association list in Virgilio, other lists found in Internet, and 1.5 years of industry-specific supplements ("Rapporti") from the leading economic newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore. We also examined the Web sites of the 96 Italian members of Esomar, the World Association for Opinion and Market Research Professionals.

This generic, Internet-based search rapidly generated a list of 48 relevant industry analyses, presented in the three accompanying tables, according to broad category: manufacturing (Table 1), services (Table 2), and food-agriculture-environment (Table 3). These lists are not meant to be comprehensive, but indicative of the variety and quality of the offer. The number of industry analyses found during our limited search period does not approach that available from Databank or Prometeia. However, all reports were free or inexpensive (i.e. the cost of a book); this feature is attractive for business information searchers seeking background information before conducting a more directed study.

We found that Italian market research reports are distributed in a fragmented fashion over many media types: books, monographs, periodicals and Internet. Few of these reports are found in even the most furnished bookstores. Of all the market research firms investigated, only 2 offered information about the industrial sectors they study. Similarly, the Italian libraries online catalog and Internet Bookshop Italia resulted in the identification of only a few titles, which were also found at the relative association's Web site. Almost 90% of the reports we found were publicized through Web sites of industrial associations, while the remainder were found at specialty publishers, market research firms or a congress center. We cannot determine the extent to which all industry analyses are mentioned in Internet, because we are unaware of the overall production (i.e. we did not find an apposite analysis).

Industry Analyses Made in Italy: Instructions for Use

A successful search for what we have called second-tier industry analyses must employ associations' Web sites, book directories, publishers' catalogs, newspaper archives and direct telephone contacts, although the present study found associations to be the best source overall. Many industry associations have Web sites, but the listing of available publications is not always complete or updated. In fact, on several occasions, an association's Web site offered free documentation without indicating that it was simply an extract of a complete study published in book format. Therefore, in the case that an online document is found, it is useful to investigate its origin.

The reports identified in this study varied significantly in quality, content, analysis and layout. Among the various formats of presentation, 37% referred to printed matter, 35% were online documents with text and numerical data, and 28% were online extracts of tabular data without comments. Considering this diversity in "sophistication", a researcher's evaluation becomes important. Importantly, our use of the expression second tier does not imply second rate. Some of the printed volumes we found are likely to be the most authoritative in the field. It is harder to evaluate the online extracts of data, especially since the methods and sources most often are not cited. This information is given in many of the full-text annual reports online. Clearly, the user must judge each document individually for validity and accuracy. Caution is recommended when using online data extracts, out of context from the original print document: we occasionally observed the inadvertent introduction of errors during the adaptation from print to online format. For example, a table of tourist visits to Italy failed to indicate that the data were to be multiplied by 1000.

From this research exercise, we conclude that the Italian Internet is a good medium for identifying a wealth of statistical data, commentary and analysis. These documents are excellent starting points for further, personalized investigations. The recent trend in Italy whereby industrial and professional organizations freely distribute content via Internet should be valued and promoted. We caution readers, however, to recognize the limits of online documents and, like all good business information researchers, to verify, verify, verify! their information sources.

Table 1. Manufacturing

Aerosols. AIA Associazione Italiana Aerosoli. In their free online magazine Informazioni AIA, the association publishes an article "L'aerosol in Italia nel 1999", reviewing market trends and annual production data for aerosols in Italy, full of tables with comparison of past years.

Automobiles. ANFIA Associazione Nazionale Industrie Automobilistiche. Online catalog of print publications, in particular, Automobile in cifre (in English and Italian), Notiziario statistico (a monthly), and an analysis of the automobile market in Italy with a 10-year forecast: L'evoluzione della mobilità e delle infrastutture stradali 1980-2010.

Chemical fibers. ASSOFIBRE Associazione Nazionale Fibre Chimiche. Assofibre has made its annual "Statistiche dell'industria delle fibre chimiche 1998-1999" available in pdf format for free. Chapters focus on import, export, production, and consumption data, for Italy and internationally.

Chemical industry. FEDERCHIMICA Federazione Nazionale dell'Industria Chimica distributes freely in Internet an annual report "L'industria chimica in cifre", a biannual report on trends with forecasts per specific sector, and a monthly document on trends analysis "La chimica e la congiuntura".

Electronics. ANIE Federazione Nazionale Imprese Elettrotecniche ed Elettroniche offers in Internet in pdf format a detailed analysis of the sector.

Eyeglasses. Eurobic is a European center for innovation and information for industries based in the heart of the Italian eyeglass industry in the Dolomites. Eurobic has published for free in Internet a summary report on the Italian eyeglass industry "La Subfornitura nel Settore dell'Occhialeria del Distretto Bellunese".

Fashion. MODAINDUSTRIA Associazione Italiana delle Industrie della Filiera Tessile Abbigliamento offers in Internet tabular data and some commentary on the sector.

Gold, precious metals and gems. Vicenza Fiera , host to the annual gold and precious metals exposition, offers some data and trends analysis on the import-export of gold, silver, precious objects and platinum, in Italy and in other countries. The document, entitled simply "The Report" is available in both English and Italian.

Machinery for ceramics. ACIMAC Associazione dei Costruttori di Macchine e Attrezzature per Ceramica publishes an annual statistical report Indagine statistica on machines and equipment for the ceramics and brick industry. In addition, it published the volume La ceramica ed il 2000, the proceedings of congress involving the industry in 6 countries. Both volumes may be purchased from Acimac. In Internet, the association makes available a sampling of statistical analysis of the sector.

Machinery for plastics and rubber. ASSOCOMAPLAST Associazione dei Costruttori di Macchine e Stampi per Plastica e Gomma offers in Internet a brief study of the sector, in English and Italian, with statistical analyses: "L'industria Italiana delle macchine per plastica e gomma, 9/99".

Machinery for the food industry. UCMA Unione dei Costruttori di Macchine per l'Industria Alimentare offers brief statistics on the industry.

Machinery for the textiles industry. ACIMIT Associazione dei Costruttori di Macchinario per l'Industria Tessile offers brief statistics on the industry, in Italian and English.

Machinery, automation and robots. UCIMU Associazione dei Costruttori di Macchine Utensili, Robot e Automazione offers brief statistics on the industry.

Metal-mechanics. FEDERMECCANICA Federazione Sindacale dell'Industria Metalmeccanica Italiana offers brief statistics on the industry in tabular format.

Oil. Unionepetrolifera . This industrial organization makes available in spreadsheet format a series of data on consumer prices, crude oil importation, Italian refinery production and Italian consumption in the period 1997-1999.

Packaging. Istituto Imballaggi offers some basic data in tabular format regarding the Italian packaging industry.

Textiles. ANT Associazione Nobilitazione Tessile provides online access to the annual study "The Italian Textile Finishing Industry" in English and Italian, which describes the industry's composition, participating companies, distribution, employment, sales, foreign trade, and investments. ANT also provides a bibliographic reference to a 4-year macroeconomic study of the sector, available upon request.

Tiles and refractive materials. ASSOPIASTRELLE Associazione Nazionale Produttori Piastrelle di Ceramica e Materiali Refrattari presents a series of print publications, mostly available free upon request, including a national statistical study and the annual report Rapporto Integrato 1998.

Transport. FEDERTRASPORTO Federazione Nazionale dei Sistemi di Trasporto su Terra e delle Attività Connesse produces an annual statistical analysis of the sector; table of contents and a detailed summary are available in Internet.

Two-wheeled vehicles. ANCMA Associazione Nazionale del Ciclo Motociclo ed Accessori . ANCMA makes available a series of tabular data on the various markets for two-wheeled vehicles and accessories, including Italian production, exports, and sales.

Wood and furniture. FEDERLEGNO Federazione Nazionale del Legno e dell'Arredamento offers statistical data and analysis for the different associated economic sectors, including furniture, woodworking, lighting, panels, construction, toys, commerce and services. For certain sectors, there is a comprehensive listing of print publications.

Woodworking machinery. ACIMALL Associazione dei Costruttori di Macchine e Accessori per la Lavorazione del Legno offers at no cost in pdf format an annual report called "The Italian Woodworking Machinery Industry in 1998", in full or in summary form, plus quarterly studies of the sector, in English and Italian.

Table 2. Services

Biomedicine. ASSOBIOMEDICA Italian Association for Biomedical and Diagnostic Technologies. The Assobiomedica study center elaborates a series of documents on healthcare economics, many of which are available for free in Internet. Some documents are in both English and Italian, for example "Healthcare expenditures, laboratory services and IVD market".

Business-to-business services. FITA Federazione Italiana Industrie e Servizi Professionali del Terziario Avanzata . The study center of FITA has made available a variety of brief statistical documents reporting on the Italian market of services to businesses.

Digital economy. ANFOV Associazione per la Convergenza nei Servizi di Comunicazione . ANFOV reports on the development of the digital economy, with their report L'Italia verso l'economia digitale. In Internet it is possible to view a table of contents and research methods description; it is necessary to request information on how to obtain the report.

Distribution for the food industry. Agra Editrice produces each year the Annuario della distribuzione in Italia. The volume may be purchased from the editor or a bookseller.

Information and communications technology. ASSINFORM Associazione Nazionale Produttori di Tecnologie e Servizi per l'Informazione e la Comunicazione . Assinform produces an annual report on Information and communications technology in Italy and internationally, with tabular data and analysis. The report is available in print plus a CD-ROM for purchase from Assiform. In Internet, the association makes available the presentations of six experts in field during their annual conference and presentation of the report.

Insurance. ANIA Associazione Nazionale fra le Imprese Assicuratrici . ANIA makes available their annual study on insurance in Italy: "L'Assicurazione Italiana nel 1998".

Insurance. ISVAP Istituto per la Vigilanza sulle Assicurazioni Private e di Interesse Collettivo . ISVAP distributes through their Web site a series of free reports (Quaderni) referring to the various facets of the insurance market in Italy.

Internet. Osservatorio Internet Italia . The Internet Observatory has the aims to monitor the development of the offer and demand for Internet services in Italy. The Observatory distributes in Internet summaries of annual studies and data on e-commerce and Internet usage from their annual conference.

Journalism. Ediland distributes two studies at no cost in Internet: one on the Italian newspaper industry ("Rapporto sull'industria dei quotidiani in Italia 1999") and another on employment and salaries in this sector ("Occupazione e retribuzione nell'industria dei quotidiani 1999").

Media. L'Istituto di Economia dei Media, Fondazione Rosselli has written the volume L'Industria della comunicazione in Italia. Quarto rapporto (1998), available from the publisher Guerini e Associati .

Multimedia publishing. ANEE Associazione Nazionale dell'Editoria Elettronica maintains an observatory on multimedia publishing in Italy. An annual report on the sector Il mercato dell'editoria elettronica e multimediale offline e online is available from the publisher Guerini e Associati, or as a free online document entitled "Editoria, contenuti e servizi nell'economia digitale in Italia 1999". The 1998 version is available in English.

Pharmaceutical industry. FEDERFARMA Federazione Nazionale dei Titolari di Farmacia offers in Internet detailed data on the National Health Service's drug expenditures in 1999.

Pharmaceutical industry. Medi-Pragma is a healthcare market research and consulting group. Among its periodical publications are Oncostat, a statistical compendium on oncological services in Italy, and Informazioni statistiche sul mercato farmaceutico.

Print publishing. Editrice Bibliografica publishes annually the Rapporto sull'editoria in Italia in book format.

Retail sales and distribution. CONFESERCENTI Confederazione Italiana Esercenti Commercio, Turismo e Servizi . The economic office of this association runs the Osservatorio Economico del Commercio e del Turismo. In Internet, Confesercenti makes available an annual report on commercial distribution: "La distribuzione commerciale in Italia 1998", plus data in tabular format regarding commercial distribution in Italy.

Tourism economics. CISET Centro Internazionale di Studi sull'Economia Turistica . CISET publishes studies and forecasts on the tourism economy in Italy. In particular, they offer an annual report "Il turismo in Italia", data on international movements of tourists from and to Italy, and a selection of working papers. Many documents are available online, while other print brochures are available upon request. The CISET site also provides links to other associations with which it collaborates on related studies, for example that presented in the following paragraph.

Tourism. CISET, the Automobile Club of Italy, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, Unioncamere, and INSUD have published a document "Il rapporto sul turismo italiano". This Italian-language document is freely available in Internet. An English summary is provided, as well as the table of contents for browsing.

Tourism. Touring Club Italiano edits and publishes the book Annuario del turismo, an annual analysis of the sector.

Table 3. Food, agriculture and environment

Agricultural economics. INEA Istituto Nazionale di Economia Agraria produces since 1947 the Annuario dell'agricoltura italiana, available from the publisher Il Mulino. The 1998 edition is packaged with a CD-ROM database containing data for the period 1990-97. The 1997 version of the annual study is available at no cost in Internet, as is the more current report "Italian agriculture in figures 1999", in both English and Italian.

Beer. ASSOBIRRA Associazione delle industrie della birra e del malto offers extracts of statistical data online.

Dairy. Osservatorio Latte: Osservatorio sul Mercato dei Prodotti Lattiero-caseari . Since 1994 the Osservatorio Latte has written the Annuario del latte, available from the publisher Franco Angeli, with statistical analyses and commentary on the sector. In Internet, the Osservatorio presents a bibliography of works written in English and Italian.

Economy of the Sea. CENSIS , and Federazione del Sistema Marittimo Italiano have written the volume Rapporto sull'economia del mare. L'impatto socio-economico delle attività di impresa nello sviluppo del paese, published in 1998 by Franco Angeli.

Fishing. IREPA Istituto di Ricerche Economiche per la Pesca e l'Acquacoltura produces the annual report L'osservatorio economico sulle strutture produttive della pesca marittima, published by Franco Angeli. In Internet, the association makes available, a full listing of books and journal articles, plus a series of data extracted from the Osservatorio Economico.

Frozen foods. Agra Editrice produces the annual Dossier surgelati for the frozen foods industry. The volume may be purchased from the editor or a bookseller.

Food industry. Agra Editrice produces each year the Annuario dell'industria alimentare. The volume may be purchased from the editor or a bookseller.

Food industry. FEDERALIMENTARE Federazione Italiana dell'Industria Alimentare offers freely in Internet the document Scenario dell'industria alimentare 1999 presenting an overview of the industry, trends and forecasts, plus an analysis of the various productivity districts and sectors. In addition, the site offers tabular data (in spread-sheet form) as well as text analyses on agricultural and food production.

Note: Links in this document updated December 2000.

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