This is Mediobanca's annual statistical survey of principal Italian companies. The aggregates cover 2030 companies, typically representative of the Italian manufacturing and service industries, over the ten-year period 2001-2010. According to the most recent statistics from ISTAT, the Italian Statistics Office, which cover the 2008 figures of some 46,000 manufacturing enterprises employing upwards of 20 people, the manufacturing businesses in the 2030-company group represent 50% of Italy's total industrial sales.p>
The survey is available filling the order form.
As usual, the companies provided assistance in compiling the figures. The aggregates are given in sets of tables, broken down by all the companies, by those in the public sector and those in the private sector. The figures are then broken down further to show the aggregate data of those controlled by foreign shareholders and of medium-sized businesses. These are defined as family firms having in 2010 sales not exceeding of EUR 330m and a workforce of up to 499 employees. The figures in the ten-year aggregate are also broken down by industry, based on each company's principal operations, and by record of profitable, loss-making or mixed results.
A prn format file containing the tables with aggregate data is available for downloading. The book is also available for downloading in Adobe Acrobat's portable document format (PDF).
F.A.Q. - Frequently Asked Questions
What is the purpose of Dati Cumulativi?
Dati Cumulativi is an annual survey on leading Italian companies aimed at highlighting their aggregate performance and financial position. It covers all Italy's largest manufacturing and service enterprises, which form a "closed" sample of companies over the period so as to ensure like-for-like comparisons. The companies themselves provide assistance in collating the data and ensuring that it is accurately processed.
When was it first published?
The survey first appeared in 1962 and was mentioned in the Bank's Annual Report for that year.
Does it cover small-and medium-sized firms?
The survey includes a number of medium-size companies, defined as firms controlled by family businesses which in the most recent year in which the figures were recorded had sales of not more than € 330m and a workforce of up to 499 employees.
Are more details available of how the aggregates are made up?
The Research Department has undertaken to companies taking part in the survey not to disclose the number and names of individual companies in each category of business given at the beginning of the survey.
How are mergers handled?
Following the "closed" sample criterion, consolidated figures are compiled for all the years covered in the survey, with the assistance of the companies concerned. However, this is not done where the business of the company that has been taken over involves only finance or property. A similar procedure is followed for spinoffs and demergers.
How representative is the survey?
The survey is representative of the performance of large Italian companies, defined as those with a workforce of more than 499 people, almost all of which are covered. The joint venture between Mediobanca and Unioncamere is intended to provide coverage of small- and medium-size businesses.
How are groups handled?
The survey provides "aggregate" but not "consolidated" data (except for adjustments for mergers) and therefore entails some duplications. However, where non-significant results might be generated due to intergroup business between one or more companies in the same sector, the balance sheets and P/L accounts of the companies concerned are consolidated, with their assistance.
Can back issues be consulted?
Back issues can be consulted at Research Department's offices in Milan by telephone appointment. Copies may also be found in the libraries of the economics faculties of most Italian universities.
Has the survey been reviewed recently?
The latest edition was published on 9 August 2011. Reviews and comments appeared in leading Italian daily newspapers the following day.
Has information given in this survey been reviewed or used in other publications?
A selection of articles is given below: Sundry authors, Rielaborazione dei "Dati cumulativi di Mediobanca" per l'inflazione (Turin: CERIS, 1983, 1989) Gianluigi Alzona, Diversificazione e controllo della grande industria italiana negli anni della ristrutturazione: principali mutamenti e schemi interpretativi (Bologna: L'Industria, April-June 1986) Duccio Cavalieri and Francesco Milleri, Ristrutturazione industriale ed accumulazione del capitale. Un'analisi su dati di bilancio delle grandi imprese in Italia 1968-83 (Bologna: L'Industria, April-June 1986) Marco Onado (ed.), Sistema finanziario e industria (Bologna: Il Mulino, 1986) Bank of Italy, Ristrutturazione economica e finanziaria delle imprese - Note sulle modificazioni della struttura finanziaria delle imprese italiane negli ultimi 20 anni (Rome, 1988) Mario Baldassarri (ed.), 45 years of industrial policy in Italy. The phases of the Italian industrial development and the relationship between public and private sectors, in Rivista di Politica Economica (May 1990, Rome) Fabrizio Barca (ed.), Storia del capitalismo italiano dal dopoguerra ad oggi (Donzelli, 1997 and 2001) G. Becattini-F.Coltorti, Aree di grande impresa ed aree distrettuali nello sviluppo post-bellico dell'Italia: un'esplorazione preliminare; Rivista Italiana degli Economisti, Supplemento, n. 1-2004.
Do similar surveys exist in Italy?
Similar surveys do exist but are generally published after a considerable time-lag. Some contain figures on a greater number of companies, including many small-to medium-size businesses. We do not consider that this makes them of greater significance. Indeed the smaller the company, the less reliable its figures are likely to be. The joint venture between Mediobanca and Unioncamere is intended to provide a uniform comparison of the performance of medium-size enterprises.
Do similar surveys exist outside Italy?
Yes. The most important are those published by the Banque de France and the Deutsche Bundesbank, covering companies in France and Germany respectively.
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2011 edition
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Historical statistics
(*) "Medium-size" enterprises are defined as those not forming part of large groups whose turnover in 2002 did not exceed € 265m and whose workforce did not exceed 499 employees.
