Enhancing the networked enterprise for SMEs: A service platforms - Oriented industrial policy*

Abstract

This work considers the application of a platform strategy in order to promote the adoption of advanced network infrastructures by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). First, we analyse the incentives of industrial players in a context where SMEs playing an important economic role and where traditional rather than high-tech sectors of activity are predominant - with specific reference to the Italian case. Second, we review the contributions of the economic and managerial literature on platforms or two-sided markets. We leverage this by proposing a policy application of the platform concept, showing its potential benefits in allowing the manufacturing sector to gain from access to the service economy. We classify platforms according to their function and identify those types which can serve the purpose of industrial promotion. This leads us to review governance aspect which are paramount to platform functioning given the policy context. Finally, we discuss the competition policy constraints on national industrial policy (and their evolution in recent times) with a reference to the EU context. © 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.