Mr Alejandro Gobierno (p)

Firm size—measured by the number of employees—plays a central role in determining economic
performance. This paper examines a potential determinant of firm size: interpersonal trust. I estimate
the causal impact of within-firm trust on the size of Spanish firms by exploiting latent patterns of
mistrust across Spanish regions and using trigger variables as instruments for variation in trust levels
across municipalities. I identify a positive causal relationship between trust and firm size using balance
sheet data from Spanish firms. I document two mechanisms through which trust expands firm size:
improvements in total factor productivity and greater access to credit. I incorporate these mechanisms
into a simple structural model and show that if firms in the bottom decile of trust converge to the
regional mean, their size would increase by 11 percent.

Dr. Cristina Re (p), Dr Jacopo Canello, Dr Pietro Battiston, Dr Mario Menegatti

This paper analyses whether risk prevention strategies adopted by micro and small enterprises (MSEs) affect offshoring decisions within regional production systems. Recent shocks have exposed the fragility of globally fragmented value chains and reinforced the European Union’s commitment to Open Strategic Autonomy (OSA). While the debate has largely focused on multinational enterprises, the role of domestic suppliers in shaping offshoring incentives remains underexplored. The paper develops a formal model in which local suppliers choose whether and how to invest in risk prevention. Building on previous studies (Ehrlich & Becker, 1972; Menegatti, 2009), risk prevention is conceptualised as an ex-ante investment that reduces the probability of adverse events and whose effectiveness may depend on strategic complementarities across firms. Suppliers can allocate resources between two types of strategies: (i) “egoistic” strategies that increase individual resilience, and (ii) “mutually reinforcing” strategies that generate positive spillovers within the region. Because the returns to mutually reinforcing strategies depend on the extent to which other local suppliers also invest, strategic interaction may generate multiple equilibria. The region may become trapped in a low-investment equilibrium in which only a few firms adopt mutually reinforcing strategies, limiting collective resilience and sustaining stronger incentives for offshoring. Conversely, when a critical mass of suppliers invests in mutually reinforcing prevention, complementarities can produce cumulative regional effects, increasing reliability and reducing the attractiveness of offshore sourcing. The model is tested empirically using Italian firm-level data from IMEFAS, combined with ORBIS data on offshore outsourcing and FDI. Firms are aggregated at the Local Labour Market Area (LLMA)-industry level. A Linear Probability Model with fixed effects estimates the differential impact of the various risk prevention strategies on the likelihood and extent of offshore outsourcing by both MSEs and larger firms, and examines under which conditions regional production systems are more likely to converge toward a low-investment equilibrium or, alternatively, to shift toward a high-prevention equilibrium.

Prof. Jean Bonnet (p), Lecturer Bruno Drouot

The objective of our article is to link the implementation of collectively decided management measures with improvements in the economic performance of fishing SMEs. Specifically, we retrospectively examine a 25-year period (2000–2025), during which measures were gradually implemented in the scallop fishery in Seine Bay. We also aim to show that collaboration among stakeholders allowed these management measures to be imposed on fishers. This cooperation has altered the economic trajectory of the fishery, substantially improving stock status and, consequently, the economic performance of fishing SMEs.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the scallop population was overexploited (Hardin, 1968), to the extent that fishers had to work 15 hours per day, seven days a week, just to earn a living. Twenty years later, thanks to territorial governance involving the Regional Fisheries Committee, a production valorization organization, and scientific researchers, scallop biomass increased more than tenfold (from 10,000 tons to 105,000 tons in 2025), and hourly fishing productivity increased one hundredfold. Data from FranceAgriMer show that annual landings rose from approximately 5,500 tons in 2010 to nearly 15,000 tons in 2025, representing an almost continuous increase over the period.
Our research draws on multiple data sources. First, we trace the implementation of various management measures in the Seine Bay scallop fishery (2000–2005). Then, using a mixed-method approach (Rice & Gondwe, 2023), we exploit: (i) a FranceAgriMer database derived from transactions in fish markets in Normandy over a 25-year period (2000–2025), and (ii) three semi-structured interviews with key fishery stakeholders. The methodological value of this approach lies in combining official transaction data with access to information on the economic performance of fishing SMEs.
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Prof. Jean Bonnet, Prof. Mauricio Castillo-Vergara, Prof. Marcus Dejardin (p), Prof. Domingo García Pérez de Lema

We examine the strategic behaviour of small and medium‑sized enterprises (SMEs) across developed, emerging, and developing countries by combining a bibliometric analysis of the scientific literature with a systematic review. The purpose of this study is to identify the dominant research themes, conceptual frameworks, and reported patterns of SME strategies across different economic contexts.
The study addresses the following questions: what are the main characteristics and trends in SME scholarship across developed, emerging, and developing economies; whether differences exist in the research lines explored in each context; what theoretical frameworks underlie the SME literature in these groups of countries; and to what extent these frameworks consider potential heterogeneity of SME strategic behaviour across contexts.