In the recent past we have witnessed deep changes in the modalities and characteristics of the international integration of countries and firms, with important consequences for the relations between countries, internally to the countries themselves and for firms’ behavior. Economic policies and existing institutions have proved only partially adequate to manage the globalization of the 21st century, and should be rethought in the light of the new international scenario. The research field of this group addresses these issues both theoretically and empirically.

We explore local and multinational enterprises as organizations embedded in a context formed by economic, social, technological, political and institutional factors, which collectively affect the operations of business. As we study firms’ decision making and their strategic interacting on the markets, we constantly investigate the influence of both external forces and formal and informal institutions at national and international level on business. In doing so, we focus on industrial and institutional dynamics, economic geography and global integration, as well as on regulation, industrial and innovation policy. We reserve attention to the multifaceted linkages between business enterprises, public players, third sector organizations and perform evaluation studies on the impact of different policy measures.