Figure 3 Value of outsourced processing, value of final exports and percentage of
outsourced production, selected Italian footwear districts, 2000
Source: elaborated on OPT data from ANCI (2001)
Overall, it seems that producers of relatively high quality items exhibit a better
export performance, as in the case of Fermano-Maceratese, and to a lesser extent
Treviso, Verona and Brenta. The need to maintain high quality standards is likely to
have limited international delocalisation of some stage of production to foreign
subcontractors. On the other hand, producers of lower quality items (such as Barletta
and Lecce) do have a worse export performance and tend to delocalise a higher
percentage of production. This is also due to the fact they suffer more from foreign
competition and therefore had to follow stronger delocalisation strategies.
2.3 The emergence of different patterns of international delocalisation.
This section summarises the empirical results presented in Section 2.2 and discusses
different patterns of international delocalisation in a comparative perspective. We find
evidence of relevant differences in the delocalisation strategies followed by major
Italian footwear districts. The main differences refer to the degree and pattern of
delocalisation, and to the relative quality of exports relative to imports of items in OPT
regime. We will argue that such differences are related to the market position of each
district (up, down or mass market).
Overall, the evidence shows that Italian footwear districts are following diverse
competitive strategies. High-quality producers - who tend to exhibit a relatively good
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