Technical efficiency and productivity growth along the automotive value chain: evidence from Italy

We propose an empirical study on the Italian automotive sector during the 2007-2011 period, applying Data Envelopment Analysis and investigating the position of firms along the value chain, their size, and vertical structure. The recent crisis has stimulated a strong process of reorganization and has increased the preexisting heterogeneity, with firms generating technology which play essential roles and an increasing number of micro and small ones, which are not able to play the same game. The result is an increasing unbalance of the automotive production system, confirming a sort of "neo-dualism," with leaders and followers.