Introduction or preface

- The purpose of this article is to outline the evolution of Italian multinational firms during the 2001-2007 period. The descriptive statistics show that a selected group of medium-sized firms has outperformed the other Italian multinationals in terms of growth rate. The evidence is consistent with the hypothesis of the emergence in Italy of the so-called "fourth capitalism", as an alternative successful model to both the industrial districts and the large chandlerian corporations. Some limits of this structural evolution are also discussed.Keywords: foreign direct investments (FDIs), Italian multinational firmsParole chiave: investimenti diretti esteri (IDE), imprese multinazionali italianeJel Classification: F23