International Business within Italian Borders: An Economic and Historical Approach

The core of international business practices revolve around conducting business with other countries, and the need to understand the differences in legal, economic, and unique cultural practices. While every country has its own unique economic practices, Italy’s major cities each have its own individual business practices. This is a result of Italy’s rich history with each of the major regions and its capitals acting as singular city-states or republics. Even after the unification of Italy in the 19th century, major cities of various regions of the country have very different economic practices. From this research, it is evident that these industrial local differences are due to the key historical discrepancies that are characteristic to each city. The geographically spaced major cities that were analyzed are: Milan, Florence, Rome, and Amalfi. We looked at what each city was known for economically, and took a step back to see why its history eventually made that city famous for that. The research showed that Milan is a known global fashion hub due to increased production in the textile industries, changes in local perceptions of fashion, and the overall ability to adapt to the fashion demands that were not being met by other fashion capitals at the time a century ago. The biggest sector of Florence’s economy is cultural tourism, and this is due to Florence’s rich prevalence in art history and the Renaissance. Next, Rome’s economy is centered on politics and services industries. This research shows that Rome was the voted capital due to its significance as the head of the ancient Roman Empire, as well as its central location within the country. Moving even more south is Amalfi and its famous coast. Economically, it is known for its production of limoncello liqueur. This is due to its agricultural history of cultivating the unique Amalfi lemons and its importance with sailors and trading with the Middle East. Each city has different cultures, economic practices, and history, because of Italy’s past as a collection of independent city-states. For the creative project element of this research, a painting was created for each city to artistically display the city’s history that influenced its current economy.