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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the key drivers of coopetition by adopting a managerial and economic framework. A case of coopetition failure is investigated by means of a historical example focused on the Egyptian adventure of the Italian banks in the first decades of the XX century. Design/methodology/approach The authors adopt a qualitative case study and a flexible pattern matching approach to develop theoretical ideas. Because the flexible pattern matching approach was adopted, the authors build the analysis on a tentative analytical framework specified a priori to provide guidance and focus. This approach allows a theory-driven research paradigm. The historical case study is mainly grounded on original sources drawn from some major banking and institutional archives. Findings While several scholars emphasised the relevance of external drivers, the literature has paid less attention to how relational and internal drivers combine. The historical case suggests that key mechanisms supporting the success of coopetition concern planning of common goals, conflicts management, alignment and formalisation of governance. In this vein, internal and relational dimensions seem to be more relevant than environment-context dimension. In addition, the historical example shows that an intra- and inter-firm alignment is required to pursue the implementation of a coopetitive strategy. This suggests the relevance of a holistic approach to investigate coopetition. Further evidence confirms the role of governance mechanisms for the success of coopetition. Originality/value The main contribution of this study is the re-consideration of the drivers of coopetition. In particular, the role of coopetition drivers has been investigated using a historical event: the Italian multinational banking in Egypt in the interwar years.

The activity of Italian banks in Egypt represents an almost unexplored field of investigation in economic history. This article is the first to attempt to add to the Italian banking literature in this area. At the same time, it contributes to the multinational banking literature on the characteristics of banks belonging to multinational groups, which are subject to a ‘liability of foreignness’ due to differences between the home country and the host economy. The paper explains the short-lived success of Italian banks, which were able to occupy primary positions in the Egyptian banking sector thanks to an aggressive policy focussed on the cotton market. It then highlights the reasons for the subsequent problems these institutes faced, showing the difficulties of a latecomer and capital-poor country, such as Italy, in carrying out a catching-up process aimed at widening its influence over geographical areas considered strategic in terms of political and commercial penetration.

Il saggio intende trattare il tema della rendita generata da titoli del debito pubblico locale in mano ad istituzioni caritative e al loro utilizzo per fini benefico-assistenziali. Forte di una solida storiografia, il saggio proporrà una serie di casi di uso del debito locale al fine di ricostruirne gli esiti precipuamente assistenziali, in particolare per due realtà, una a Novara, la confraternita di San Giuseppe, l’altra nel contado l’Opera pia Leonardi di Trecate, durante il periodo della dominazione spagnola.

Review of G. Gregorini, M. Romani (eds.), Borghesie nazionali, borghesie cosmopolite. Banca privata, finanza, reti (Italia, secoli XVIII-XX), Franco Angeli, Milano, 2021.

Concepita durante una pandemia, ma frutto di un lungo studio sulla funzione del credito nelle società antiche e odierne, questa raccolta di saggi pone le premesse per interrogarsi in modo nuovo sulle origini e gli sviluppi della cooperazione di credito. Filo conduttore è il concetto di economia generativa, ossia di un modello di sviluppo che mette al centro le persone. La Grande Recessione del 2008 e l’emergenza sanitaria ancora in atto hanno moltiplicato gli interrogativi sull’insostenibilità ambientale e sociale dell’attuale sistema mondiale. Le cicatrici profonde impresse nel tessuto socio-economico hanno reso indilazionabile una riflessione seria sulle desiderate caratteristiche di un’economia nuova, più giusta e capace di generare valore e non tanto di estrarlo. Una riflessione che è precondizione necessaria in vista di riforme più strutturali.

Tutela del risparmio e regolazione bancaria in Italia tra le due guerre mondiali.

L'evoluzione della regolazione bancaria in Italia tra l'Unità e la Prima guerra mondiale.

Introduzione al volume.

The article intends to provide a first, partial contribution to a very topical historiographic question, that of the relationship between crisis and normative reforms. These can be interpreted in two different but at the same time complementary ways: on the one hand, as a political reaction induced by the difficulties of the credit institutions and by the social consequences of the crises; on the other, as the interplay between divergent interests and theoretical approaches, i.e. as an asset whose quantity depends on regulation demand and supply. The analysis, which is the first phase of a research in progress, starts from one of the most studied episodes of banking legislation in Italy, that of 1936, ordering the events in their essential lines and integrating current knowledge with some archival sources. We will therefore try to propose some ideas that allow us to better delineate the mechanisms underlying the reform process, as well as the reactions it raised among the various groups involved, with the emphasis on the contrasts between the regulatory framework and market incentives. This study shows a relationship between crisis and regulation that is more multifaceted than one might imagine, and which leaves room for further research in this direction.

Companies' international expansion is a classic theme of business history. On the one hand, multinational business involves risks related to linguistic, cultural and market structure diversity. On the other hand, it has acted as an engine of integration of the world economy in the last two centuries. Among the first multinationals, building companies should also have played a non-secondary role. However, the historiography seems curiously not to have paid the necessary attention to this topic. This article identifies three key variables (political, financial and organizational) for understanding the constraints to which the expansion on international markets is typically subject, focusing on the Italian case. This article first underlies the importance of the foreign sector for some Italian construction companies in the second half of the twentieth century and especially in the post-2008 crisis years. It then focuses on the previous origins of this phenomenon, adopting Egypt as a case study, where international competition was intense. A long-term study may prove helpful to explain an apparent paradox, how some national excellences could emerge and compete globally in the building sector, while Italian companies, on the whole, were historically lagging behind in the international business.

Lo studio di Geoffrey Jones sul processo storico di multinazionalizzazione delle banche inglesi (Jones, 1993) rappresenta un elemento centrale del dibattito sulla funzione delle banche nell’ambito della globalizzazione. L’approccio è stato di tipo “sistemico”, individuando alcune tendenze generali che caratterizzano il sistema bancario britannico. Tuttavia, la strategia perseguita dalle banche è strettamente dipendente dalle peculiarità dei diversi mercati di riferimento e ciò rende opportuno integrare la precedente metodica con un approccio più attento ai singoli casi nazionali. In questa prospettiva, l’articolo concentra l'attenzione sul caso delle affiliazioni bancarie italiane in Egitto tra le due guerre mondiali, su cui la storiografia appare lacunosa. Obiettivo di questo studio è dimostrare come la combinazione di pressioni provenienti dall’Italia e dall’evoluzione interna al mercato egiziano determinò, dopo una prima fase di relativa prosperità, un repentino deterioramento della posizione degli istituti italiani in quel paese. Solo considerando congiuntamente tali dinamiche, interne ed esterne al paese di destinazione, è possibile pervenire a una corretta comprensione dei punti di forza e di debolezza di istituzioni, come quelle bancarie, operanti su mercati internazionali., Geoffrey Jones's study of the historical process of multinationalization of British banks (Jones, 1993) is a milestone in the debate on the banking role in the context of globalization. The approach was ‘systemic’ as it highlights some general trends that characterize the British banking system. However, the strategy pursued by banks is strictly dependent on the peculiarities of the various host economies and this makes it appropriate to integrate the previous method with a more attentive approach to individual national cases. In this perspective, the article focuses on the case of the Italian banking affiliations in Egypt between the two world wars, on which historiography appears incomplete. This study aims to demonstrate how the combination of pressures from Italy and the internal evolution of the Egyptian market determined, after an initial phase of relative prosperity, a sudden deterioration in the position of Italian institutions in that country. Only by considering these dynamics, internal and external to the host country, is it possible to achieve a precise understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of institutions operating on international markets.

Credit exerts a strong influence on the building activity. In the Fifties and Sixties, the Italian securities market was underdeveloped and public intervention could hardly keep up with demand. Access to credit then appeared as a key factor for builders, since it made up for private investment fluctuations. This paper adopts the viewpoint of the Milanese building association, as Lombardy was the largest real estate market in the country, together with Lazio. The Milanese association not only urged legislative innovations aimed at facilitating access to financial resources, but also helped to foster new operational mechanisms against market inefficiencies. The article investigates the main weaknesses of the banking sector according to the builders’ standpoint, and then it explores the development of the mortgage credit in Italy, especially focusing on the role played by the major national institution in this field, the Cassa di risparmio delle provincie lombarde.

The paper reconstructs the most characteristic features of confessional cooperation in Lombardy, from its origins to the present. Two elements are investigated with particular attention: on the one hand, the strong territorial roots of the Catholic cooperative experience, thanks also to the decisive support function of the credit cooperatives; on the other hand, the controversial formation of a vertical structure that institutionalized the natural tendency of cooperatives to "network". The paper analyses these dynamics with particular reference to the case of Lombardy, one of the most influential within the national cooperative movement.

The article investigates the evolution of the building sector in Italy between the economic recovery in the fifties and the oil crisis in the early seventies. Special attention is devoted to the controversial relationship between public and private players, which proved to be a crucial factor of the productive expansion of those years. As a matter of fact, this phase, although suffered some setbacks, was marked by exceptional growth rates and a conflictual relationship between government regulation and free private initiative, as the ongoing uncertainty of the regulatory framework clearly emphasized. After defining the legislative framework of those years, the second part focuses on quantitative and typological outcomes of the building activity, which was largely supported by private initiative, compared to a declining public contribution. For at least part of this sector, such a growth brought about a remarkable transformation in technology and labour organization, making traditional models of production coexist with increased mechanization.

The origins of the European motorway network date back to the beginning of the century, but it was only after World War I that these projects were regarded with greater interest in several European countries. This chapter discusses how the construction of the first European motorways took place in Italy between the two wars, thanks to direct state intervention or through concessionaries that were still widely supported by the public authority, according to a scheme that would substantially be repeated in the second half of the century. The Italian experience between the two wars is of particular interest due to the precocity of motorways and the close partnership between public and private capital. The main objective of this chapter is thus to evaluate this interaction in motorway financing, trying to provide an interpretation of the long-term effectiveness of the provisions.

The economic consequences of a political frontier are many and not all have been adequately explored. For a long time the political and administrative boundaries have, in fact, been considered one of the main sources of costs related to trade. Instead, the study of banking systems in border regions has probably received less attention so far, maybe due to the fragmented nature of available data, which makes it difficult to assess the border effect on the credit framework of these geographic areas. These few notes are intended to provide some insight into this topic, suggesting the impossibility of formulating a general theory on the banking systems along the frontier, which are, instead, more affected by the several variables that contribute to differentiate the individual border regions from each other. In this perspective, the Swiss case is particularly significant in that it is in conflict with the traditional thesis, which argues that frontier regions are sites of penalisation. By comparing three different border areas – Geneva, Basel and especially Ticino, due to its gravitating towards an external economic pole, the Milanese one – the paper highlights the fragility inherent in the economies along the boundaries, but also the strong potential provided by deeper cross-border integration, as historical experience clearly demonstrates, and as the current framework seems to make more and more necessary.

Qual è stato il processo storico che ha portato all’attuale definizione dei rapporti tra Italia e Svizzera in merito ai flussi di capitali esteri? Il concetto di frontiera può aiutare a inquadrare queste vicende in maniera particolarmente efficace. Esso non ha un significato univoco. La frontiera non è un dato naturale fissato nel tempo bensì una costruzione, anche simbolica; si trasforma e non scompare; separa ma al tempo stesso mette in contatto. Nell’esperienza europea, è stato spesso messo in evidenza il suo effetto di barriera. Ma la funzione di contatto può talvolta risultare dominante su quella di separazione. Quale, dunque, il reale effetto di un limite politico sui territori di frontiera? La Svizzera, incuneata nel cuore dell’Europa, è un vero e proprio laboratorio per la varietà delle sue aree di confine. Questo volume intende offrire un’interpretazione di come si siano trasformati i rapporti sulla frontiera italo-svizzera a partire dalla metà del XIX secolo, per giungere fino alle attuali sfide della globalizzazione. Al centro dell’attenzione si pongono soprattutto le intense relazioni bancarie e monetarie da sempre poste in essere tra Como e il Canton Ticino, una storia fatta di interessi spesso al limite tra legalità e illegalità, che possono però far luce sull’evoluzione storica della frontiera e dei suoi effetti di lungo periodo.

Il saggio studia i rapporti finanziari tra Italia e Svizzera in una regione di confine, tra la metà dell'Ottocento fino ai giorni nostri, ricostruendo la storia di quello che è stato uno dei principali istituti di credito del Ticino, la Banca della Svizzera Italiana.

Il saggio studia la distribuzione del reddito nel Lodigiano in età fascista, basandosi sui ruoli dell'imposta di ricchezza mobile.

This paper investigates the factors behind the rise and stunning success of the Catholic cooperative system in Italy, by analyzing the great success of credit unions, which were the backbone of the entire cooperative movement.

This paper explores the effect exerted by a political boundary on the formation and interaction of local banking systems between Italy and Switzerland (late 19th-early 20th centuries).

The economic development of Lodi (Milan) between the 19th and 20th centuries

The development of the Istituto bancario San Paolo of Turin between 1938 and 1970

Drawing on a large body of literature about the border effects on economic integration, this paper focuses on the consequences a frontier could exert on the local banking systems of two areas located on the Swiss-Italian boundary, over the years between the First and Second World War. It then compares the Italian province of Como and the Swiss canton of Tessin, highlighting the specific characteristics of their banking systems and trying to clarify how their evolution has been influenced by the proximity of a political border and by the transformations in the economic and legislative framework of those years, with special regard to the restrictions on trade and foreign exchanges introduced in Italy in the 1930s. Specific attention is devoted to international trade and capital flows across the border. In conclusion, this research tries to speculate how the two banking systems would be structured if they were not separated by any frontier.

The highway infrastructures were of a prominent importance under the fascist propaganda. Nonetheless, they were far less extended than they would have been in the second half of the XXth century. In spite of this limited extension, the highway case seems to be significant due to its precocity in a country, like Italy, that had a low motorization index and a very bad maintenance of ordinary roads. The Italian system relied on a model of private concessionaires, which however was bound to fail due to weak economic incentives. Despite the substantial failure of the fascist experiences, the highway network has been built in Italy since the 1950s by resorting once again to the system of concessions, which includes government subsidies, government guarantees on debt and a devolution to the state of a share of revenues. However, unlike the early cases in the 1920s, during the second half of the century a crucial difference was that concessionaires were mostly public-owned.

Il saggio ricostruisce la nascita e l'evoluzione della struttura organizzativa degli edili milanesi dalla fine dell'Ottocento fino ai giorni nostri.

L'articolo studia le politiche di investimento nel settore immobiliare delle due maggiori banche miste italiane, negli anni tra le due guerre mondiali.

La ricerca di L. Vergallo offre una ricostruzione dei rapporti intercorsi tra politica, imprenditoria e organizzazioni sindacali dei lavoratori nella Milano degli anni Sessanta del Novecento.