The COVID-19 crisis and Italian firms: digitalization, internationalization, and global value chain reconfiguration

Abstract

Italy has been severely hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the policy measures created to support the Italian economy, firms have been forced to face the crisis and manage the serious challenge of forecasting and planning their strategies. Drawing on crisis management and global value chain theory, this chapter explores the relationship between digitalization, global value chain configurations, and coordination and governance mechanisms. Our exploratory research highlights some trends showing that digitalization is expected to impact the structure of global value chains that will become more geographically concentrated. Moreover, firms are likely to build stronger control and coordination capabilities at their headquarters, leading to less autonomous business functions and subsidiaries. The Covid-19 crisis has accelerated the digital transformation of firms, even in sectors that have been relatively less affected. Based on a web survey, we report the resulting trends and highlight potential avenues for future research.