2.1. The Loss of Competitive Power for SMEs
It’s common opinion that the EU internalization process triggered a competitiveness loss for the Italian SMEs, even before the advent of the subprime financial crisis; their market penetration decreased of -7,8% (the big companies recorded a positive increase of +9,5%) and their value added per employee (operating profit, salaries, wages and payroll expenses) decreased of -15,4% (versus an increase of +4,5% for the big companies) (Marini, 2004). By opposite, the corporations were in control of the market before and after the financial crisis; it’s sufficient to remark that, with the exclusion of nine bigger States, the global GDP is lower than the first 200 companies’ annual turnover (Rossi, 2008).
In addition, as many economists asserted, the restrictive constraints imposed by the Treaty of Maastricht, the Treaty of Lisbon, the balanced budget in Constitution and the Fiscal Compact, further limited the business growth and the participation of citizens to their country political life (Rampini, 2014).
In particular, these regulations led to:
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A decrease of the industrial production;
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An increase of unemployment;
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A loss of purchasing power;
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A reduction of the propensity to saving (Savona, 2012).