A few weeks ago, a distinguished group of Italian government representatives, businessmen and consultants met in Rome to talk about the power the "Made in Italy" brand has been consolidating abroad.

According to the date of a new research recently released by Prometeia (a national analysis and research center) and the Italian Trade Commission(ICE), 59 per cent of Italian exports are concentrated in 12 countries. The value of their imports is nearly 210 billion euro. These positive data made it quite evident to argue that it will be easy to find new opportunities for Made in Italy in countries that already appreciate Italian products a lot, and that it is time to identify other countries where to sell national manufacturing.

According to the experts that joined the 13^th Forum organized by Comitato Leonardo, a Group created in 1993 by a selection of Italian businessmen interested in promoting "Italian Quality" abroad, Rome needs to focus on exports if it wants to exit the economic crisis. Luisa Todini, Comitato Leonardo's President, believes that Italy is still known (and appreciated!) for its "distinguished ability to innovate remaining competitive and maintaining high quality. Accordingly, Italian products are generally perceived as exclusive, elegant and sustainable."

At the moment, Italy is particularly strong in Germany, France, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Spain. Outside Europe, United States, Japan, Turkey, Russia, China, Brazil and EAU absorb most of its exports.

The data elaborated by the Italian Trade Comission show that during the last few years, Italy has maintained its "export quota" in all these nations, implying that the global financial crisis had a limited impact on national exports trends in consolidated markets. Accordingly, it is realistic to assume that if we will be able to access some new markets, our products may help us to consolidate new export routes. However, it has been argued that this process should not be pushed by single companies rather be coordinated by the government.

To further increase its rate of success Made in Italy needs to interpret "competitiveness" in an innovative way. Differently from other countries, competitiveness should not focus on price, only, but it should work on offering high quality as well as new & sustainable products. Finally, inefficiencies in the distributing networks all over the world have been identified and recognized as another area in which the Italian government should directly intervene to improve the situation.

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