Industrial and service businesses are becoming increasingly mobile in order to improve their competitiveness. As the economy is increasingly integrated and competition global, only dynamic, flexible businesses can hope to survive and prosper. Likewise businesses must be ready to move around the world to exploit opportunities, whenever and wherever they may appear, as well as be able to adapt quickly to change and take advantage of innovative potential. Against this backdrop, entrepreneurship has become a production resource that is increasingly likely to be relocated from one country to another, and from one activity to another, whenever new horizons for earning are guaranteed by putting business skills to work.
The following chapter tackles the issue of production mobility by looking at the transformation and the flexibility of Veneto businesses. First we will analyse Veneto's business system in the light of the world's current economic difficulties; then we will take a look at the development of its production structure, the survival of Veneto businesses, and their flexibility when it comes to innovation. We will, however, also look at the strong points of a productive Veneto and the features of the region's innate business model, which enable Veneto's economy to hold out when the economic going gets tough. We conclude with an overview of the main production sectors in order to gain an insight into long-term changes in the region.