I cantieri, avamposto globale della nautica da diporto

The chapter is part of a book which studies nautical tourism ports and their economic impact on the territory. The focus is on the yachting industry and its impact in an Italian region (Liguria) where it has a great economic and strategic relevance. Within the industry, specific attention is given to the boat building sector, which is the most internationalized and globalized element of the industry and which can exert positive carry-over effects on the whole system. The analysis moves from George Yip’s model, which is adapted and implemented and then applied with an empirical analysis. First, the intensity of the globalization drivers (market, cost, government and competitive drivers) in the sector is assessed, with quantitative and qualitative evaluation tools. Then, this diagnosis leads to a theoretical value for each of the four global levers (global market participation, global platform, global products, global marketing, global strategic moves), which in turn makes it possible to measure the degree of globalization of the sector and the mix of levers used by three of the mayor players in it. The results confirm our thesis that the boat building sector has a high potential for global growth and that Italy hold a good position within the sector; however, this good position has little impact on the analyzed region, in spite of the importance of the local boat building industry in terms of number and degree of internationalization of the existing firms.