ABSTRACT
In the present chapter I propose to regard investment decisions as the result of a series of inducing mechanisms by which these decisions are activated. To this end, after analysing the significance of satisfying the need to adjust productive capacity to expected demand (§2) and the need for profitability (§3), I shall refer to the general characteristics of the actual working of competition (§4) and define the notion of capacity to generate investment (§5) understood as capacity to create and exploit new investment opportunities through inducing mechanisms linked with the innovative activity of firms. After providing (§6) a definition of these inducing mechanisms (dynamic linkages), I shall analyse the strategic factors in investment decisions (§7). In conclusion (§8), I shall collect together the indications emerging in the course of the chapter in order to focus on the theoretical and empirical implications of our analysis.
