ABSTRACT
The absolute amount of Italian foreign direct investment in the manufacturing sector is quite small. Table 2.1 synthesises the main general results obtained with the census of all Italian equity participation in oil and manufacturing foreign firms performed by the research group. At the end of 1985 there were at least 257 Italian investors, with 573 affiliates abroad. These data, because of the wide spectrum of different sources used, cover a large part of the phenomenon; obviously, we cannot be sure that all foreign participations were included in the census, especially considering the very small size of some parent companies (see below).
