Regional Strategy for Inland Areas 2021-2027. Analysis of the Production System

The document was commissioned from IRPET by the Managing Authority of the ERDF ROP 2014-2020 of the Tuscany Region and was edited by the working group composed of Tommaso Ferraresi, Sabrina Iommi, and Donatella Marinari within the Local Systems, Culture, and Tourism research area coordinated by Sabrina Iommi. Marco Mariani and Renato Paniccià also collaborated. The business survey was conducted by IZI-Metodi, Analisi e Valutazioni economica S.p.A. Editing by Elena Zangheri.

The aim of this paper is to provide an in-depth analysis of the specializations, dimensions, relationships, strengths, and weaknesses of business systems located in inland areas, in order to support the construction of effective development strategies.

The study is composed of two parts.

The first involved the use of IRPET input-output modeling to quantify, in terms of value added and employment, the contribution of internal areas to the regional economy and, above all, to highlight the relationships connecting these areas to the rest of the region, both in terms of intermediate exchanges between production sectors and in terms of commuting flows for work reasons.

The analysis highlighted the heterogeneity of the areas, which differ in their contribution to regional GDP, specializations, and the intensity of their relationships. Overall, however, these areas demonstrate a profile of economic vulnerability: their production systems are poorly able to independently intercept external final demand and are instead “activated” by other regional LLSs. Furthermore, they are quite dependent on other Tuscan LLSs to generate earned income for their residents.

The second part involved a direct survey of businesses located in inland areas and operating in three sectors that are particularly characteristic of their economies: agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism. A sample of 1,036 businesses was interviewed, allowing for statistical representativeness by macro-sector of activity (also allowing for a distinction between exclusively agricultural and agritourism businesses) and by macro-territorial typology (North vs. South, intermediate areas vs. peripheral and ultra-peripheral areas). The topics covered in the survey concern: i) the reasons for location choices, ii) the specific challenges of the context, iii) the entrepreneur’s orientation towards investments in innovation and sustainability, and iv) the main obstacles to investment decisions.

The main findings can be summarized as follows. Locations, as is typically the case for SMEs, are tied to the individual and family history of entrepreneurs. However, the concern is the low birth rates of new businesses, which prevent the natural turnover of closing businesses and lead to a progressive decline in the productive base. Policies must increase the attractiveness of these areas to new residents and new productive activities. Regarding the propensity to invest, adopting a broad definition of the type of investment, the crucial role played by agritourism and agricultural businesses in the recovery, maintenance, and enhancement of traditional environmental and built heritage is highlighted. This also requires orienting interventions toward environmental sustainability objectives. The main difficulties in investing are linked to the limited availability of own resources and the excessive bureaucratic burden involved in accessing public incentives.