Multinational enterprises - Year 2024

In 2024, the value added generated by foreign-controlled enterprises reached €196 billion (+4.1% compared with the previous year). Growth was driven by the services sector (+6.7%), while industry (excluding construction) recorded a slight decline
(-0.7%).

The importance of foreign multinationals in Italy’s international trade is highest in the pharmaceutical industry (60.2% of exports and 71.3% of imports) and motor vehicles (52.9% and 69.5%, respectively). Inward foreign multinationals also account for a large majority (68.8%) of intra-group imports.

45.5% of the workforce and 36.9% of the turnover of Italian multinationals are located abroad.

For 75% of Italian multinationals, access to new markets is the main reason for investing abroad. Commercial agreements and joint ventures are also widely used.

Foreign multinationals: strong growth in services value added

In 2024, foreign-controlled multinational enterprises (MNEs) continued to strengthen their presence in Italy, both in terms of employment and productivity, while Italian multinationals further consolidated their operations abroad.

Originating from 108 countries, foreign MNEs operated in Italy through 19,321 affiliates (+2.6% compared with 2023), employing more than 1.9 million people (+3.8%), generating €871 billion in turnover (-1.8%), producing nearly €196 billion in value added (+4.1%), and spending over €7 billion on intramural R&D (+10.7%). Growth in value added was entirely driven by services (+6.7%), whereas the increase in R&D expenditure was mainly attributable to manufacturing (+14.0%), compared with services (+2.6%).

Although they account for only 0.4% of all resident enterprises in Italy, foreign multinationals further strengthened their contribution to key economic aggregates in industry and services. They employed 10.1% of the workforce (+0.3 percentage points compared with 2023), generated 17.8% of total value added (+0.3 p.p.), and accounted for 41.2% of business R&D expenditure (+2.9 p.p.). Turnover was the only exception, declining slightly to 21.0% (-0.1 p.p.).

Italian multinationals also expanded abroad, operating through 26,935 foreign affiliates (+6.6% compared with 2023) in 175 countries. These affiliates employed nearly 1.8 million people (+4.4%) and generated €576 billion in turnover (+2.9%).

In manufacturing, the sectors contributing most to the growth of Italian MNEs abroad were other transport equipment (+21.4% employment and +30.4% turnover), wood, paper and printing (+33.8% and +22.9%), rubber and plastics (+5.4% and +10.3%), and food and beverages (+4.3% and +9.9%).

In services, the strongest expansion was recorded in professional, scientific and technical activities (+19.3% employment and +107.7% turnover), information and communication services (+6.3% and +11.5%), and transportation and warehousing (+7.1% and +9.3%).

Considering the overall activities of Italian-controlled multinationals, both in Italy and abroad, foreign operations accounted for 45.5% of total employment and generated 36.9% of total turnover. The share of employees located abroad was higher in industry than in services (47.2% versus 43.8%), while the opposite was true for turnover (31.0% versus 45.9%).

The industrial sectors with the highest incidence of activities carried out abroad by Italian multinationals were mining and quarrying (92.8% of employment and 97.2% of turnover), rubber and plastics (60.2% and 44.8%), electrical equipment (57.8% and 51.4%), and pharmaceuticals (53.9% and 37.7%). Among non-financial services, the highest shares were recorded in rental and business support services (51.0% and 45.4%) and trade (46.6% and 42.8%).

Foreign multinationals’ imports are predominantly intra-group, while their contribution to national exports is strongest in pharmaceuticals and motor vehicles

A marked size differential between multinational enterprise groups and non-multinational enterprises is confirmed. Resident enterprises belonging to Italian multinational enterprise groups employ, on average, 101 persons, while foreign-controlled affiliates in Italy employ 98.6 persons and foreign affiliates of Italian multinational enterprises 66.5 persons, compared with just 3.6 persons employed on average by non-multinational enterprises. This substantial gap is also reflected in labour productivity levels: value added per person employed amounts to €102.8 thousand for foreign-controlled affiliates, compared with €64.9 thousand for non-multinational enterprises.

In 2024, exports of goods generated by foreign-controlled enterprises amounted to almost €200 billion
(-1.7% compared with 2023), while imports of goods, at nearly €220 billion, recorded a larger decline
(-3.7%). Foreign-controlled enterprises accounted for 35.4% of total Italian exports of goods and generated 49.3% of total imports of goods (down 0.4 percentage points compared with 2023 in both cases). Intra-group trade represented 45.4% of exports and 68.8% of imports of foreign-controlled enterprises.

The contribution of foreign-controlled enterprises to international trade was particularly significant in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products (60.2% of exports and 71.3% of imports), motor vehicles (52.9% and 69.5%, respectively), computers, electronic and optical products (45.9% and 52.6%), and chemicals and chemical products (42.9% and 49.1%).

Foreign affiliates of Italian multinational enterprises exported 38.2% of their turnover, with the highest shares recorded in the manufacture of leather and related products (90.2%), computers, electronic and optical products (75.6%), and furniture and other manufacturing activities (74.9%). High export shares directed to Italy were also observed in traditional Made in Italy industries: 50.8% in the manufacture of leather and related products, 45.3% in textiles, wearing apparel and leather products, and 33.3% in computers, electronic and optical products.

The European Union remains the main partner area both as the origin of foreign-controlled affiliates in Italy and as the location of foreign affiliates of Italian multinational enterprise groups

Foreign-controlled affiliates operating in Italy originate predominantly from the European Union, accounting for 57.7% of all foreign-controlled enterprises (+0.3 percentage points compared with 2023). European-controlled affiliates also make a substantial contribution in terms of persons employed (56.6%) and turnover (54.0%).

Ranked by persons employed, France became the leading country of control for foreign-controlled affiliates in Italy for the first time, with 2,662 enterprises and more than 366 thousand persons employed. French-controlled affiliates accounted for 17.6% of turnover, 18.8% of value added and 8.9% of intramural R&D expenditure. They overtook the United States, whose affiliates comprised 2,564 enterprises and almost 363 thousand persons employed, generating 17.7% of turnover, 22.2% of value added and 24.0% of intramural R&D expenditure. Germany ranked third, with 2,739 enterprises and more than 241 thousand persons employed, accounting for 14.1% of turnover, 12.4% of value added and 8.8% of intramural R&D expenditure.

The European Union also remained the main location area for foreign affiliates of Italian multinational enterprise groups, although its importance declined compared with 2023. EU countries hosted 47.5% of foreign affiliates (-1.2 percentage points), 41.5% of persons employed (-0.8 percentage points) and 49.9% of turnover (-2.7 percentage points) generated abroad by Italian-controlled affiliates.

The top ten host countries for foreign affiliates of Italian multinational enterprise groups accounted for 60.7% of enterprises, 59.3% of persons employed and 62.3% of turnover generated abroad. Likewise, the top ten countries of ultimate controlling institutional units of foreign-controlled affiliates in Italy accounted for more than 80% of persons employed, turnover, value added and intramural R&D expenditure generated by foreign-controlled affiliates operating in Italy.is