Made in Italy: Eccellenze in Digitale

Made in Italy:
Eccellenze in Digitale
A training programme for Italian SMEs to improve digital literacy and
competitiveness
Author: Francesco Zitelli
July 27, 2015
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Dino Schwaferts
Master of Science in Business Information Systems

Thesis 2014/15
Author
Francesco Zitelli
Baslerstrasse
4600 Olten, Switzerland
francesco.zitelli@students.fhnw.ch
Supervisor
Prof. Dr. Dino Schwaferts
Riggenbachstrasse 16
4600 Olten, Switzerland
dino.schwaferts@fhnw.ch
Abstract
Abstract
Keywords: digital transformation, digital maturity, digital marketing, productivity,
innovation, competitiveness, business process digitization, cluster development, SMEs,
digital investments, youth unemployment, Youth Guarantee.
The Italian economy is struggling in the global competition due to several critical issues,
but especially because of slow productivity growth in SMEs. A delay in ICT adoption for
process and product innovation is a possible explanation for slow productivity growth.
The support offered by young digital angels can help Italian SMEs to build internal
ecommerce and exploit digital technologies. Then, the role of existing industrial districts
as nodes of the network economy, coupled with increased awareness of ICT opportunities,
can be a remedy for the stagnation of the Italian economy. Institutions should implement
specific programmes to facilitate this process of digital transformation. This thesis
analyses Eccellenze in Digitale, a programme financed and coordinated by
Unioncamere and Google which involved 105 graduates to support SME entrepreneurs
in the digital transformation of their companies.
Eccellenze in Digitale appears to have a general positive impact on involved micro
and small Italian firms: a relevant share of businesses adopted new digital solutions to
improve their processes and products. Entrepreneurs took strategic decisions after the
consultancy offered by digital angels: data and insights are provided in this research
paper to understand the motivations and consequences of these choices. The programme
also had a promising occupational effect: most of the graduates participating in
Eccellenze in Digitale are now working in the digital marketing field. This result is a
significant achievement, especially in Italy, where youth unemployment is high.
Programme coordinators could take strategic decisions for future initiatives using the
results of this research project.
July 27, 2015
Statement of Authenticity
Statement of Authenticity
I confirm that this master thesis research was performed autonomously by myself using
only the sources, aids and assistance stated in the report and that quotes are readily
identifiable as such.
__________________________________________
27/07/2015, Francesco Zitelli
July 27, 2015
II
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
I want to thank the following people for their support and help during the Master Thesis.
They have all been significant facilitators in the process of setting up the paper, and I am
grateful for their encouragement and backup.
Dino Schwaferts for his patience and assistance;
Martina OLeary for helping me to improve my written English;
Barbara Martini and Diego Ciulli for their support in data collection;
Gennaro, Patrizia and Bianca, my family.
.
July 27, 2015
III
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
Abstract
..................................................................................................................
Statement of Authenticity ................................................................................................. II

Acknowledgements .........................................................................................................III
1.
2.
3.
4.
July 27, 2015
Introduction.....................................................................................................1
1.1
Background ..................................................................................1
1.2
Problem Description and Purpose of the Study ........................... 2
1.3
Thesis Statement and Research Questions ..................................2
1.4
Chapter Overview ........................................................................3
Theoretical Framework ...................................................................................4

2.1
Dimensional Limit of Italian SMEs .............................................5
2.2
From Production to Market-driven Management ........................ 7
2.3
Districts Resistance to Digital Transformation .......................... 9
2.4
ICT applied to Marketing .......................................................... 10
2.5
Italian SMEs digital maturity level ..........................................11
Research Method .......................................................................................... 14

3.1
Research Philosophy ..................................................................14
3.2
Research Approach ....................................................................15
3.3
Research Purpose .......................................................................16
3.4
Research Strategy and Choices ..................................................16
3.5
Time Horizon .............................................................................16
3.6
Data Collection Methods and Techniques .................................16
Discussion .....................................................................................................18
4.1
Programme Description ............................................................. 18
4.2
Geographical Analysis ............................................................... 22
4.3
General Results ..........................................................................28
IV
Acknowledgements
5.
6.
4.4
Impact Score ..............................................................................31
4.5
Best Performance Frontier ......................................................... 32
4.6
Intervention Adoption ................................................................ 34
4.7
Job Placement Results ............................................................... 45
Conclusions ..................................................................................................50
5.1
Strategy Adoption Overview ..................................................... 50
5.2
Occupational Effects ..................................................................51
Outlook .........................................................................................................53
6.1
Future Programme Developments .............................................53
6.2
Customer Relationship Management .........................................54
Bibliography .................................................................................................................... 57
Appendices ..................................................................................................................... 66
July 27, 2015
6.3
Provinces list and dataset availability ........................................66
6.4
Normality Check for Number of Companies per Province

(performed with R and Rcmdr) ....................................................1
6.5
Normality Check for Impact score per Province (performed

with R and Rcmdr).......................................................................3
6.6
Normality Check for Satisfaction Level ..................................5
1.
Introduction
1.1
Background
Eccellenze in Digitale is an initiative promoted by Google and Unioncamere (Union of

Chambers of Commerce) involving 105 Italian graduates and 52 Chambers of Commerce
in Italy, during the semester that started in September 2014. The programme is aimed at
supporting Italian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the implementation of digital
strategies, and its objective is to improve the competitiveness of Italian SMEs and
promote Made in Italy through the potential of digital technologies (Google Blog Team,
2014).
The programme has reached its second edition, after a first pilot called Distretti sul Web
in 2013, promoted by the same stakeholders. The pilot programme involved 20 graduates,
and was designed to test the value proposition that digital competences can be injected
into Italian SMEs by means of personalized tutoring to increase their competitiveness and
overall performance (Abeltino, 2013). The 20 trainees started their 6 months programme
respectively in 20 different districts (or clusters). Clusters are recognized as important
actors of the local economy, able to spur economic growth. A district can be defined as a
cluster of complementary companies, specializing in a particular production chain (or
supply chain): the spatial proximity strengthens the emergence of economies of scale and
scope, increasing the attraction for prospective companies and businesses (Becattini,
1998).
Eccellenze in Digitale is part of a larger initiative, called Made in Italy: it consists of
an online platform to bring Made in Italy online. Principal partners, other than Google
and Unioncamere, are the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, the CaFoscari University, and
the Symbola foundation. Made in Italy website collects hundreds of documents
(including pictures, historical documents and videos) to narrate Italian culture and
craftsmanship: storytelling is used to emphasize the beauty and complexity of Italian
products and lifestyle through a digital experience (Ciulli & Mazza, 2014).
July 27, 2015
1.2
Problem Description and Purpose of the Study
The programme is rather new in the Italian landscape: to accelerate the adoption of digital
technologies by Italian SMEs, a team of 105 digital angels has been trained and
allocated within the network of the Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber of Commerce
network is disseminated throughout the country and is a crucial player for national
business development. The tutoring was offered free of charge to the SMEs that received
an invitation to the programme and decided to host the digital angel during the 6 months
period. The general approach is innovative if compared to previous initiatives with the
same objective: in general, training session and periodical workshops are offered to
companies, but a real one-to-one interaction and periodic follow-up is usually missing.
Therefore, the author decided to analyse the impact of the programme: the objective of
this study is to establish if this action can be a reference model for future initiatives, to
become a best practice and to be transferred to other contexts. Nevertheless, the study
provides an additional picture of the digital maturity level among Italian SMEs at the
present time.
1.3
Thesis Statement and Research Questions
The thesis statement is the following: It is possible to improve the average digital
maturity level of Italian SMEs through a personalized tutoring plan.
The quantitative analysis of the obtained data would help to answer the following
questions:
How does the programme Eccellenze in Digitale affect SMEs digital maturity?
On average, is the intervention sufficient to move a company up to the next

maturity level, e.g. from offline to online?
What are the most adopted interventions during the tutoring period (e.g. opening
a Facebook page or activating Google My Business)?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the programme?
How the programme could be improved?
July 27, 2015
1.4
Chapter Overview
1. Introduction
Background; Problem Description and Purpose of the Study;
Thesis Statement and Research questions; Chapter Overview.
2. Theoretical Framework
Dimentional Limit of Italian SMEs; From Production-Driven to
Market-Driven Management; Districts' Resistance to Digital
Transformation; ICT applied to Marketing; Italian SMEs' Digital
Maturity level.
3. Research Method
Research methodology; Research Approach; Research Purpose;
Research Strategy and Choices; Time Horizon; Data Collection
Methods and Techniques.
4. Discussion
Programme Description; Geographical Analysis General Results;

Impact Score; Best Performance Frontier; Intervention Adoption;
Job Placement Results.
5. Conclusions
Strategy Adoption Overview; Customer Relationship
Management.
6. Outlook
Future Programme Developments; Customer Relationship
Management.
July 27, 2015
2.
Theoretical Framework
The diagram in Figure 1 describes the theory framework implied in this research project:
the author with the help of the thesis supervisor has developed the framework. The
framework consists of a cycle starting with Eccellenze in Digitale. The programme
provides adequate support for the digitization of SMEs thanks to field agents that satisfy
existing demand for digital transformation. This improves entrepreneurs awareness of
ICT potential and firms adopt digital solutions and technologies to their processes and
products, improving their productivity and digital maturity level. Increased productivity
affects the economic performance of the single firm. Each firm is presumably part of a
larger network, including its suppliers and partners. Together these economic actors
constitutes a district (or cluster): a district is an agglomerate of different companies
contributing to a complex supply chain and the overall competitiveness of a district is
determined by the competitiveness of the participating companies. Therefore,
performance improvement of single nodes are shared throughout the whole cluster: the
competitiveness of interrelated SMEs grows together, and districts competitiveness is
strengthened. Sales and exports increase thanks to enhanced marketing activities and
access to new markets.
1.
2. demand for
digitization of
SMEs
Eccellenze in Digitale
3. increased
entrepreneur's
awareness of
digital potential
7.
increased
labour
demand
4. adoption of
digital solutions
and strategies
6. improved
cluster
competitiveness
4. increased
company's
digital maturity
5. improved
performance of
SMEs
Figure 1 Theory Framework underlying the Thesis Statement
July 27, 2015
Higher turnover and profits justify increased labour demand: demand involves both
traditional industry-related workers (i.e. manual work) and specialists in digital
marketing. In the end, the initial stimulus of Eccellenze in Digitale (and of similar
initiatives), opens the way to a virtuous cycle of competitiveness improvement, business
culture modernization and youth unemployment reduction. To prove these assumptions,
the author have reviewed the literature on cluster development, competitiveness and ICT
impact on SMEs. The results contained in this research project aim to test the statements
contained in the first half of the cycle in Figure 1, namely from phase 1 (Eccellenze in
Digitale) to phase 4 (adoption of digital solutions and strategies). The second half of
the cycle (from phase 5 to 7) is out of the scope of this research project: additional data
would be required. In the Outlook, Chapter 6, the author offers a suggestion to accomplish
the research based on the second half of the cycle.
2.1
Dimensional Limit of Italian SMEs
Italian economy experienced two consecutive recessions: a decline in exports between

2008 and 2009 and a contraction of domestic consumption from 2011. In both cases,
SMEs suffered more the recessive effects than bigger companies did (DG ENTR, 2014).
During the recessions, SMEs access to financial capital was more difficult, and
bureaucracy hindered business activity: these obstacles to development determined a 5%
reduction of active Italian SMEs (DG ENTR, 2014). The SME Performance Review
elaborated by the Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry offers an overview of
SMEs subdivision (Table 1).
Number of Companies
Italy
Number
micro
3.527.452
small
171.658
medium
19.126
SMEs
3.718.236
large
3.139
Total
3.721.375
UE-28
Quota Quota
94,8
92,4
4,6
6,4
0,5
1,0
99,9
99,8
0,1
0,2
100
100
Table 1 Estimates for 2013 elaborated by DIW ECON for the European Commission
Italian SMEs ratio is higher than EU-28 average: especially micro-companies are an
essential element for the Italian economy, and their productivity level is critical in
July 27, 2015
determining the overall national performance level. Italian Companies suffer from high
fiscal burden, severe market regulations and cumbersome bureaucracy: in the Ease of
Doing Business Index created by the World Bank Group, Italy ranks at 56th position
among 189 reported countries. This contrasts with Italy participating the G8, the Group
of 8 consisting of the eight major advanced economies in the world (World Bank Group,
2015). These economic constraints, such as fiscal burden, regulations and bureaucracy,
are usually proportionate to the dimension of the company: several small and medium
companies abandon the idea of growing further due to these constraints. In turn, this
becomes an obstacle to growth and employment increase. On average, Italian industrial
districts are populated with micro, small, and medium companies, as well as a few big
companies with global ambition (Moretti, 2013).
This economic configuration, with many micro and small businesses, has been beneficial
and functional in the past when manufacturing was the leading industry, and required
investments in R&D were low. However, in the last two decades, manufacturing has
moved progressively towards Asia, China, South Korea and India, while advanced
economies have been left with more sophisticated and intangible value adding activities
(Moretti, 2013). The complexity of products and processes is sustained by massive
investments in Research and Development (R&D), which are accounted for by the firm
as a fixed expenditure. Therefore, companies are incentivized to dilute fixed costs
(including R&D and extensive marketing activities) on the highest number of pieces (or
customers) possible, in order to decrease the share for each product. Bigger companies
with larger productions are more likely to spend on R&D and sophisticated marketing
operations, raising the value of their goods and services, and increasing and sustaining
the competitive advantage to stabilise revenue growth (Moretti, 2013).
The transformation of the economy, with a global shift of manufacturing towards the Far
East, is creating a hostile environment for small and medium enterprises that cannot
afford sustained R&D investments. However, innovation is now cheaper and more
accessible than in the past due to the advantage of digital technologies: high availability
of common platforms and building blocks facilitates the combination and recombination
of existing solutions and services, accelerating the innovation pace. This can reduce timeto-market and decrease costs of R&D (Moretti, 2013). For example, software is easily
distributed and shared among developers, increasing every year the number of code lines
July 27, 2015
and available frameworks. Interoperability is the new paradigm and a single innovation
developed in a firm can be implemented worldwide in just a few years (Siegele, 2014a).
Together with software and service innovation, upcoming developments in hardware and
manufacturing can be a great opportunity for SMEs: open hardware followed by the
makers movement, low-cost 3D printing for fast prototyping and the Internet of Things
for interconnected objects are changing the rules of manufacturing. These three major
trends enable small players to cut drastically R&D costs and provide valuable and
widespread innovation to the market (Siegele, 2014b). This systemic decrease of
development and prototyping costs should benefit SMEs, but the obstacle to relevant
productivity improvements is probably related to low awareness of digital technology
potential.
2.2
From Production-Driven to Market-driven Management
Creativity and innovativeness have characterized the Italian economic miracle from the
1970s when products were less complex than today, and main improvements were made
through cost-effective recombination and redesign of products (Nardozzi, 2003). In this
context of light industries and non-saturated markets, Italian SMEs thrived in Europe
(especially exporting to Germany, France and the UK) thanks to their flexibility and
reduced costs, sustained by cyclical competitive depreciation of the Lira (the Italian
currency before the introduction of Euro), determined by the Italian Central Bank during
the 1980s (De Cecco, 2004). This approach can be defined as production-driven
management, and it produced a multitude of SMEs with high labour intensity,
individualistic behaviour and that were lacking a global vision (Brondoni, 2008).
The shift to a global value chain is threatening Italian SMEs based on production-driven
management: nowadays, over-saturated markets and highly fluctuating demand push
domestic companies to compete directly with international players in a new and unknown
competitive space (Brondoni, 2008). Companies need to transition towards a marketdriven management in which they shift to global economies of scale and engage in the
intense sharing of key intangible assets with partners, in a constructive attitude of
coopetition (cooperation and competition). According to Brondoni (2008), marketdriven companies favour an outside-in vision, based on: the identification of products
July 27, 2015
with a higher value than that of the competition to provoke the intersection with demand
(Before and Better than Competitors).
The globalization of markets dramatically changes the competition configuration, forcing
the transition from hostile competition to constructive cooperation: closed borders and
static competitive environments foster an intense rivalry for limited resources and
customers (Brondoni, 2008). This situation is also known as the red ocean, where a
saturated market is compared to a closed ecosystem space filled with predators that fight
for the same limited food; in comparison with a blue ocean, referring to an uncontested
market space with plenty of business opportunities (Kim & Mauborgne, 2005). The
opening of global markets expanded the borders of competition, introducing new business
opportunities and increasing the roles of knowledge and immaterial assets within
corporations. This radical context change requires a higher degree of collaboration and
coordination among enterprises (Brondoni, 2008).
In a domestic market, with relatively stable conditions (spatial borders, taxation, rivalry),
companies compete to satisfy the same market demand and are mainly focused on
acquiring a competitive advantage based on cost reduction, and improving internal
process efficiency. Incremental cost reductions in high-cost countries such as Italy are
difficult to obtain due to high labour and environment costs (Rullani, 2010). To build and
maintain the competitive advantage, companies may shift to a differentiation strategy, as
defined by Porter (1980), that is, to differentiate the products and services in some way
in order to compete successfully. This competitive strategy requires SMEs to invest in
their specialization and specific expertise, pushing for a continuous improvement and
innovation of their processes and products. This increasing specialization derived from
global market pressure pushes companies to abandon an aggressive competitive attitude
and to shift to profitable collaboration and cooperation (Tresca, 2013).
The resulting network economy can benefit companies with increased specialization,
augmented innovative capacity and with an outcome of increased competitiveness
(Brondoni, 2008). Global business networks become essential tools in strengthening the
network economy and resulting network effects; the improved ability to cooperate and
coordinate with past competitors allows companies to react faster and more effectively
to global market fluctuations and challenges. Networks are the most effective circuit
July 27, 2015
available to access the knowledge of others and to widen the base for reutilization of a
companys proprietary know-how (Rullani, 2010). Existing districts, as spatial
agglomerations of similar or complementary activities, offer the necessary critical mass
to overcome dimension limitations to micro, small and medium companies (Ferri, 2013).
From this perspective, Internet and web technologies are the natural candidate to
accelerate the creation and diffusion of business networks: Information and
Communications Technologies (ICT) can improve the information flow within and across
companies (Ollo-Lpez & Aramenda-Muneta, 2012). Therefore, the implementation of
these technologies could improve the competitiveness of companies and, as a
consequence, the performance at the cluster level (Moretti, 2013). However, the scarce
awareness of ICT opportunities in Italy and a consequent delay in ICT adoption,
compared to other advanced economies (Camagni & Capello, 2005), is obstructing the
widespread adoption of innovative technologies. Therefore, a new approach to facilitate
the digital transformation is required.
2.3
Districts Resistance to Digital Transformation
In academic literature, two opposing views on the digital transformation effects on

industrial districts are available. On one side, academics highlight the negative effects of
digital transformation: the reduction of physical distance eroding the competitive
advantage of physical proximity originated within a cluster. Authors such as Cairncross
(1997) discuss the death of distance, suggesting that digital connections would destroy
the advantages of physical distance. Globalization is flattening the competitive space,
reducing barriers to global commerce through, among other factors, the digital
infrastructure (Friedman, 2007). These authors feared that ICT adoption could reduce the
advantage of spatial proximity to coordinate workflow on a face-to-face basis. Chiarvesio
et al. (2004) studied and identified a moderate resistance to the adoption of digital
technologies in some industrial districts, interpreting these results as a districts attempt
to avoid progressive demolition of analogic communication flows.
Conversely, other authors took a more positive view on digital transformation
opportunities and dynamics: ICT adoption forces a rethinking of processes, business
models and spatial networks. Through this redesign process, the digital technologies can
have strong positive externalities on the companies (Morgan, 2004). Moretti (2013)
July 27, 2015
affirms that digital economy and relative transformation is increasing, rather than
decreasing, the importance of spatial proximity: the empirical observation of globally
successful districts suggests that a high concentration of human capital into the district,
for example, Silicon Valley in California (USA), contributes to the positive growth of the
surrounding area. The digital transformation created brand new industries, such as
consumer electronics, and renovated existing ones, such as entertainment and traditional
manufacturing (Moretti, 2013).
2.4
ICT Applied to Marketing
According to the Digital Influence Index (2012), Consumers have more ways to mine
for information about companies than ever before. Therefore, the ability to reach
consumers with a consistent message, across the variety of channels available, such as
social channels, is key to thriving in the ever changing and competitive landscape.
Consumers award the companies that are able to communicate and market their products
and services in the best way. Online communication and marketing have tremendous
advantages relative to traditional offline channels, such as 24/7 availability from any
place, repetitive operations automation, tracking and analytics. Therefore, companies able
to master the digital channels can leverage this advantage against competitors and seize
new business opportunities. At the same time, competition is increased, due to the
instantaneous transfer of information, resulting in pricing being exposed to comparison
more often, geographical barriers being lowered, and coordination costs decreasing
(Friedman, 2007).
Dave Seney, president and CEO of Fleishman-Hillard, affirmed that [the] collective
voice of the Internet is eclipsing the persuasive power of family, friends or colleagues
when it comes to influencing purchase decisions (Griwert, 2012). Tech-savvy consumers
present opportunities (and threats) to companies: marketers need to maximize their
online channels potential to make it easy for consumers to interact with and access
information about their brands (FleishmanHillard.com, 2012). Any obstruction to
obtaining these information decreases the opportunity for a successful deal. Therefore the
marketers and entrepreneurs should work towards offering a seamless conversation
directed to their customers needs. Eccellenze in Digitale is designed to support
entrepreneurs to deploy digital marketing solutions within their firms.
July 27, 2015
10
2.5
Italian SMEs digital maturity level
"Eccellenze in Digitale" is a programme aimed at increasing the awareness of micro,

small and medium enterprises about the importance of the "digital factor". Google is a
partner of this initiative with Unioncamere and, indeed, is reasonably interested in digital
factor awareness: quality of search results, its core service, is interlaced with the accuracy
and timeliness of information that relies on the Web. Therefore, the global company is
involved in several projects to foster the adoption of a digital approach to business. Before
"Eccellenze in Digitale", Google commissioned a research into the Boston Consulting
Group called "Fattore Internet - Come Internet sta trasformando l'economia italiana"
(Internet factor - How the Internet is transforming the Italian economy) (Faraldi, Tardito,
& Vos, 2011). The BCG report contains a survey of 1000 Italian companies and groups
them into three different categories, based on their level of online activity:
online-and-active: the company owns an internet website and is involved in

digital marketing or ecommerce activities;
online: companies are online with a website but there are no investments in digital
marketing or in ecommerce;
offline: the company does not have a website (but the company can have an
Internet connection).
Website
Digital
marketing/ecommerce
online-and-active
Yes
Yes
online
Yes
No
offline
No
No
Table 2 BCG general classification of SMEs digital maturity
To determine the impact of the Internet on key aspects, such as sales volume, or
international sales and productivity, BCG classifies companies into three different groups.
The most relevant insights are:
July 27, 2015
11
On average, the online-and-active companies achieved a positive growth of sales during

the last 3 years (+1.2%), while the online and offline companies growth was negative,
respectively -2.4% and -4.5% (Figure 2);
Average variation of turnover

(% change in 2009-2011)
2
1,2
1
0
-1
-2
-3
-2,4
-4
-5
online and active
online
-4,5
offline
SME digital maturity level
Figure 2 Source: BCG SMEs questionnaire; BCG elaboration
International sales reach a higher share in online-and-active companies (14.7%), twice

as much as online (7.7%) and substantially higher than offline (4.1%). Therefore,
proactive SMEs are on average more international-oriented (Figure 3).
International sales
(% change in 2009-2011)
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
14,7
7,7
4,1
online and active
online
offline
Approximately 65% of online-and-active companies affirmed that using the Internet

increased their productivity, against 28% of those online and 25% of offline. The
Internet appears to be crucial in supporting the performance of SMEs (Figure 4).
July 27, 2015
12
"Has Internet increased your productivity?"

(% of responses)
100%
35
80%
60%
40%
72
75
28
25
65
20%
0%
online and active
online
yes
offline
no
The Internet has a positive impact on employment: in the last 5 years, online-andactive companies saw a 34% staff increase, while offline companies increased in staff
by only 11% (Figure 5).
Increase in Employment
(% change in 2007 - 2011)
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
34
11
online and active
offline
July 27, 2015
13
3.
Research Method
This chapter contains the research methodology adopted for this project. Saunders,
Lewis and Thornhill (2009) suggest a comprehensive model: the authors condensed the
complexity of research methodology into what is called the research onion.
.
Figure 6: Research Onion (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012, p. 128)
The research onion collects different methodological layers, from the outermost and
abstract research philosophy, down to the inner core of research design, which is data
collection and analysis. From the abstract and theoretical down to the practical and
technical, the research onion helps to reconcile the authors choices to achieve his or her
research goals (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2012).
3.1
Research Philosophy
The research philosophy captures how the researcher perceives the nature of reality
(ontology); what is considered acceptable knowledge (epistemology) and what is the role
of values (axiology) (Saunders et al., 2012). Among the four possible approaches, which
are positivism, pragmatism, interpretivism, and realism, this research paper is based on
the final one and, in particular, a critical realists perspective. The author believes that, as
July 27, 2015
14
researchers, we are able to understand world phenomena if we understand the social

structures that have given rise to the phenomena we observe (Bhaskar, 1989).
The essence of realism is that which the senses show us is reality: that objects exist
independently of the human mind. Critical realists recognize the importance of multilevel
study (at individual, group and organisation level) and believe that the social world is
constantly changing due to the interaction of the variety of structures and procedures that
coexist at different levels (Saunders et al., 2012).
The author, as a participant of the programme Eccellenze in Digitale, is influenced by
the programme objectives, procedures and values; therefore, his direct experience will
have an impact on the research project. Nevertheless, quantitative data on programme
results are analysed to provide a credible and objective view of the observed phenomena.
3.2
Research Approach
There are two main approaches in scientific research: induction and deduction. Induction
involves theory generation and building: the researcher collects data and develops a
theory as a result of data analysis. The deductive approach, on the other hand, is used for
theory falsification or verification: a theory and hypothesis are developed and a research
strategy is designed to test the hypothesis (Saunders et al., 2012). Deductive reasoning
occurs when the conclusion is derived logically from a set of premises, the conclusion
being true when all the premises are true (Ketokivi & Mantere, 2010).
"In deductive inference, we hold a theory and based on it we make a prediction of its
consequences. That is, we predict what the observations should be if the theory were
correct. We go from the general the theory to the specific the observations,"
(Bradford, 2015).
This research paper adopts a deductive approach: data follows the theory elaborated by
the author. Indeed, collected data are used to test the theory displayed in the first half of
the diagram in Figure 1: the impact effects of Eccellenze in Digitale is measured
through quantitative data. If the programme is effective in satisfying the demand for
digitization, quantitative results should reveal an increase of digital solutions adoption.
In turn, implemented digital strategies would increase the digital maturity level of
involved businesses.
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15
3.3
Research Purpose
The main purpose of this research project is to describe and explain the results of the six
months programme Eccellenze in Digitale. The conclusion should indicate if the
programme is useful to improve Italian SMEs digital maturity. Therefore, this project is
conceived as a descripto-explanatory study: the description of the programme results are
used to corroborate the explanation of the initiative results itself. This generated
knowledge about the programme efficacy allows for the anticipation of phenomena,
predict their occurrence and, therefore, permit them to be controlled (Saunders et al.,
2012)
3.4
Research Strategy and Choices
The research strategy adopted for this project falls within the survey class and specifically
it is a survey based on structured observations (Saunders et al., 2012). The programme
interns (also referred to as field agents) assess each companys digital maturity level
through direct observation using a specific framework provided by programme
coordinators (2.5). Therefore, the researcher employs a quantitative (mono) method to
achieve the research goals. In addition, a satisfaction survey is presented in Section 4.7:
after 3 months from programme conclusion, field agents have been interviewed about
their working situation and general satisfaction through an online form.
3.5
Time Horizon
Given the structure of the programme Eccellenze in Digitale, the research project is
referred to as a longitudinal study, that is a particular phenomenon which takes place over
an extended period (Saunders et al., 2012). Two measurements were taken during the
programme: the first at the beginning of the six-month tutoring period before any of the
interns interventions, the second at the end of the six-month period. Therefore,
programme agents evaluated the same digital marketing strategies (e.g. Facebook page,
Google My Business) twice during the programme. Interns survey has been administered
after 3 months from the end of Eccellenze in Digitale.
3.6
Data Collection Methods and Techniques
Each province team (e.g. Padova) is composed of two graduates, who are programme
interns. Each team collected the observations autonomously and sent their resulting
July 27, 2015
16
spreadsheet at the end of the 6 month period to Unioncamere, as a central collector. The
author of this research received the collection of spreadsheets and aggregated them in a
unique file. The data was cleaned using OpenRefine: inconsistencies, duplications and
spelling errors were corrected to obtain a homogenous dataset (Verborgh & Wilde, 2013).
Subsequent elaborations have been performed on the dataset to get new measures and
insights: the results of these calculations are presented in Chapter 4.
July 27, 2015
17
4.
Discussion
This chapter starts with a detailed description of the programme and its background. Next
sections contain results of Eccellenze in Digitale, consisting of a general overview of
SMEs involvement at macro-regions, regions and province level: the geographical
analysis facilitates measurement of the extension and reach of the project. Then, main
research question is answered: how many companies changed their status, moving from
one stage to the subsequent (e.g. from offline to online)? The analysis continues with the
calculation of the Impact score, capturing the effectiveness of each team despite the
number of involved companies. A ratio of the involvement level (the number of contacted
entrepreneurs) and the impact score is considered as a measure of overall performance
for each team. Finally, the author provides an exploration and description of main
interventions and their adoption growth during the six-month period.
4.1 Programme Description

According to the categorization introduced by BCG in the report Fattore Internet
(Faraldi et al., 2011), it is possible to divide SMEs into three categories, representing their
levels of activity on the Internet: online-and-active, online, and offline, as discussed
earlier in the literature review. It is interesting for this research to note that Google and
Unioncamere, the programme promoters, decided to use the same categories to measure
the improvement of participating SMEs. Therefore, Eccellenze in Digitale is based on
the same framework adopted by Boston Consulting Group, reinforcing the 3-categories
differentiation. The framework acts as a reference to describe, map and track the evolution
and improvement of any company that invests in a digital strategy.
All the involved SMEs across Italy are firstly subjected to a check-up of their digital
status, a sort of as is snapshot. The programme trainees perform this initial assessment,
acting as field agents surveying a sample for market analysis. The check-up consists of a
checklist containing several variables, the same that BCG used to study its SMEs sample
(Faraldi et al., 2011). The same questionnaire is completed again with participating
companies at the end of the programme, which is after six months. The data collected
using this approach allows us to categorise the participating firms before and after the
intervention of the programme trainees: the ex-ante and ex-post survey should allow a
fine-grained analysis of the transformation occurred within the affected companies.
July 27, 2015
18
Monitored dimensions (or variables) are described exploring the structure of the source
data, to increase readers understanding. The variables can be grouped into three clusters,
corresponding to the above-cited categories. The reader should note that, unless stated
otherwise, questions (previously referred to as variables) require a yes or no. The set
of variables is as follows, with relative description.
1. email: the company uses an email address;
2. website: the company owns a website;
3. updated website: the company owns a website and updates it regularly (e.g. for
fashion industry: twice a year according to new collections);
4. blog: the company owns a blog;
5. updated blog: the company owns a blog and updates it regularly;
6. translation: the website is translated into at least one additional language (e.g.
English, German, etc.);
7. analytics: a system of analytics to track visitors is installed in the website (e.g.
Google Analytics);
8. third party: the company appears on third party websites (e.g. news, posts,
articles and links on websites out of the companys ownership);
9. My Business: the company has activated a Google My Business account;
10. social: the company has activated at least one social network;
11. Facebook: the company has activated a business page on Facebook;
12. Twitter: the company has activated a Twitter account;
13. Google+: the company has activated a Google+ brand page;
14. LinkedIn: the company has opened a page on LinkedIn;
15. Instagram: the company has activated an account on Instagram;
16. YouTube: the company has active a channel on YouTube or Vimeo;
17. updated social network: the company updates at least one social network
regularly;
18. ecommerce: the company has an active ecommerce;
19. AdWords: the company has promoted its products and services through Google
AdWords in the last 30 days;
20. marketing: the company manages a marketing campaign on social networks
(e.g., the company has an editorial plan, advertising campaign, coupons, etc.);
July 27, 2015
19
21. export: the company has an online strategy to promote the export (note:
answered yes if the marketing campaign and social networks are prepared in a
foreign language).
The BCG suggests a criterion to use these Yes/No answers to classify the company:
The company is defined as offline if there is no updated website (3), no

updated blog (5) and no updated social network (7);
The company is defined as online-and-active if at least one variable among

updated website (3), updated blog (5) or updated social network (7) is
positive and at least one variable among ecommerce, AdWords, export or
marketing is positive.
The company is defined as online in all the other cases.
We present a logical scheme to clarify the criterion, using the same logical
operators used in the spreadsheet given to each intern. Note that the value 1
stands for yes, while 0 stands for no.
IF { [ (updated website = 1) OR (updated social networks = 1)
OR (updated blog = 1) ] AND [ (ecommerce + AdWords + export
+ marketing) > 0 ] }
THEN Company IS online-and-active,
ELSE IF [ (website = 0) AND (blog = 0) AND (social
network = 0) ]
THEN Company IS offline,
ELSE Company is online
As mentioned above, the field agents across Italy directly survey the companies
situations. A first survey of all variables is performed at the beginning of the relationship
with each company and then at the end of the six-month period. It is worth noting that
this process can result in inflated data, as each intern can have the incentive to polish his
or her overall performance. Numbers could be artificially increased to project a better
impression than the real situation. While this effect is difficult to identify, the research
author accounted for this possibility in data elaboration. Moreover, the effect should be
limited while aggregating the records.
July 27, 2015
20
Variable statuses (0 and 1, corresponding to No and Yes) are collected in a

spreadsheet shared across single teams, for example, the Chamber of Commerce of
Padova (Veneto region) provides a spreadsheet to the interns working in Padova. Below
we offer an excerpt from, that spreadsheet.
Figure 7 Survey spreadsheet excerpt the company are anonymized through a numeric identifier
Eccellenze in Digitale employed 105 graduates from all over Italy for a six-month
period. The initiative was launched in 52 Italian provinces and corresponding Chambers
of Commerce. In each participating province, Google and Unioncamere sent two agents,
after a selection. Almost 2,400 graduates applied to the programme, most of whom were
from the South of Italy (Forlani, 2014).
The trainees were recruited through a 3-steps selection process: first, the application
required the candidates CV and a letter of motivation. Each applicant applied for the
province in which he or she was resident or studying. As a second step, applicants were
assessed on marketing and management skills and economy knowledge. Finally, a
committee interviewed the applicants on cultural background, individual attitude and soft
skills. Each of these phases contributes with a score towards a final ranking: the first two
candidates with the highest scores were selected for the relative province.
After the initial selection, all the programme interns were trained during an intensive oneweek training session in Rome. The topics covered a wide range of disciplines and fields,
including: basics of digital marketing, web technologies, content curation and
July 27, 2015
21
copywriting, online advertisement, brand communication and reputation, Internet and

digital economy, mobile optimization and ecommerce strategies.
Basics on the functioning of the Chambers of Commerce system were presented during
the training, to instruct the interns on how to relate to colleagues and supervisors. Finally,
agents were instructed on some basics regarding internalization and sales management,
to deal effectively with entrepreneurs.
4.2
Geographical Analysis
Firstly, a description of the statistical sample is provided: 32 out of 52 teams provided

their data for 1119 records, each record corresponding to a company joining the
programme. Each company was assessed on September 2014 (ex-ante) and March 2015
(ex-post), therefore the total entries are 2238. The remaining 20 teams delayed the
submission of their datasets and forced the author to discard their results for timing
reasons. In 6 cases, datasets were discarded due to high discrepancies between the
centrally provided spreadsheet template (see Figure 7) and the submitted one. The
implementation of an ad-hoc platform could reduce or eliminate these delays and
inconsistences: in Chapter 6, the author suggests a possible solution for this issue. A
complete list of all provinces is available in the appendix.
Here is a presentation of the geographical analysis of the involvement level, according to
the macro-regional level: macro regions are defined in Italy as NUTS 1, Nomenclature of
Units for Territorial Statistics of level 1 (Eurostat, 2015). Macro regions are North-West
(Nord Ovest) with Valle dAosta, Piemonte, Lombardia, Liguria; North-East (Nord Est)
with Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Veneto Trentino-Alto Adige, Emilia-Romagna; Centre
(Centro) with Toscana, Marche, Lazio Umbria; South (Sud) with Abruzzo, Molise,
Campania, Basilicata, Puglia, Calabria; Islands (Isole) with Sicilia and Sardegna. Valle
dAosta has not participated in Eccellenze in Digitale. Moreover, the team from
Sardegna (Oristano) has not delivered the dataset and NUTS Islands contained only
one dataset (Ragusa in Sicilia): therefore Islands and South have been merged into a
single cluster. Figure 8 below presents the number of involved companies, divided per
macro region.
July 27, 2015
22
Companies involved
per Macro Region
CENTER
390
SOUTH_ISLANDS
281
NORTHWEST
227
NORTHEAST
221
0
100
200
300
400
500
Figure 8 Number of companies involved grouped by Macro Region
Central and Southern macro-regions present a higher number of involved companies: a

higher number of active teams in the same area could explain this. In Figure 9, the number
of average SMEs involved by each team (corresponding to a province) is provided.
Average number of
companies involved
per Province, grouped
by Macro Region
CENTER
39
NORTHWEST
38
NORTHEAST
32
SOUTH_ISLANDS
31
0
10
20
30
40
50
Figure 9 Number of average companies involved per Province according to Macro Region division
The analysis continues at regional level with Figure 11:
July 27, 2015
23
Number of Companies per

Region
VENETO
MARCHE
TOSCANA
LIGURIA
UMBRIA
CAMPANIA
LAZIO
LOMBARDIA
EMILIAROMAGNA
CALABRIA
PIEMONTE
BASILICATA
SICILIA
ABRUZZO
MOLISE
PUGLIA
152
116
113
91
83
82
78
74
69
66
62
40
29
28
20
16
0
50
100
150
200
Figure 10 Involved companies grouped by Region
According to bar chart in Figure 10, the Veneto region outperforms other regions with
152 involved companies. Tuscany and the Marche region follow at a distance with 113
and 116 respectively. A central group composed of Liguria (91), Umbria (83), Campania
(82), Lazio (78), Lombardia (74), Emilia-Romagna (69), Calabria (66) and Piemonte (62)
scores between 60 and 90 companies. The bottom group comprises Basilicata (40), Sicilia
(29), Abruzzo (28), Molise (20) and Puglia (16), with 40 or less SMEs involved.
As previously observed for macro-regions, it is necessary to factor out the potential
influence of a higher number of teams and interns working in the same area, averaging
the number of involved companies per region accounting for active provinces. Figure 11
shows a different scenario, where ranking is changed and performance can be discussed
again.
July 27, 2015
24
Average number of
companies per Province,
grouped by Region
TOSCANA
57
LIGURIA
46
UMBRIA
42
CAMPANIA
41
BASILICATA
40
LAZIO
39
VENETO
38
LOMBARDIA
37
CALABRIA
33
PIEMONTE
31
SICILIA
29
MARCHE
29
ABRUZZO
28
EMILIAROMAGNA
23
MOLISE
20
PUGLIA
16
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Figure 11 Average number of companies per Province, grouped by Region
Toscana (Tuscany) is now leading the ranking with an average of 57 involved companies
per province: there were only two active provinces in Tuscany, namely Florence and
Lucca. Liguria (46), Umbria (42), Campania (41), Basilicata (40), Lazio (39), Veneto (38)
and Lombardia (37) follow with scores between 37 and 46. Calabria (33), Piemonte (31),
Sicilia (29), Marche (29) and Abruzzo (28) rank between 28 and 33. Finally, EmiliaRomagna (23), Molise (20) and Puglia (16) close the ranking with values below 25.
Therefore, performance can be described in various ways according to different levels of
detail, distorting the real impact and performance of individual areas and teams. The effort
of the author is to provide valid measures to capture the programme impact in the most
objective way. A closer analysis of programme results is offered in the number of
involved companies at province level, described in Figure 12.
July 27, 2015
25
Number of Involved
Companies per Province
LUCCA
AVELLINO
GENOVA
VERONA
FIRENZE
PESARO
PADOVA
TERNI
SONDRIO
ASCOLI PICENO
POTENZA
PERUGIA
VITERBO
FROSINONE
REGGIO EMILIA
CUNEO
COSENZA
SAVONA
LECCO
ROVIGO
CROTONE
RAGUSA
CHIETI
VENEZIA
BIELLA
FERRARA
SALERNO
CAMPOBASSO
ANCONA
TARANTO
FERMO
PIACENZA
65
61
56
50
48
46
45
43
42
41
40
40
39
39
39
38
36
35
32
31
30
29
28
26
24
23
21
20
18
16
11
7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Figure 12 Companies involved per Province
The distribution of the number of companies has a high relevance for programme
coordinators and provides a first measure of the attractiveness of the offered initiative.
The number of companies demonstrates, on one hand, the adoption rate of the programme
in different areas (i.e. how many entrepreneurs decided to join the programme free of
charge and to invest some time in improving the digital maturity of their companies). On
the other hand, these figures suggest how the single team was effective in promoting the
programme through available communication channels. These two dimensions, adoption
rate and team effectiveness, are mixed and not distinguishable in the available data:
therefore, they will be analysed together. Nevertheless, the number of companies
July 27, 2015
26
involved in the programme throughout Italy is a valid proxy for the actual programme
penetration.
Lucca (65 companies), Avellino (61) and Genova (56) are at the top of the ranking, with
more than 50 joining companies each. A bigger group of followers working between
40 and 50 SMEs contains Verona (50), Firenze (48), Pesaro (46), Padova (45), Terni (43),
Sondrio (42), Ascoli Piceno (41), Perugia (40) and Potenza (40). In the segment from 30
to 40, we find Viterbo (39), Frosinone (39), Reggio Emilia (39), Cuneo (38), Cosenza
(36), Savona (35), Lecco (32), Rovigo (31) and Crotone (30). The last segment with less
than 30 involved companies contains Ragusa (29), Chieti (28), Venezia (26), Biella (24),
Ferrara (23), Salerno (21), Campobasso (20), Ancona (18), Taranto (16), Fermo (11) and
Piacenza (7).
The bar chart in Figure 12 suggests that the number of involved companies follows a
normal distribution1: to check this assumption we performed a statistical analysis
(available in Appendix B). Indeed, it can be confidently asserted that the distribution of
SMEs that joined the programme is normally distributed and therefore one can infer the
mean value of the total population of companies that joined the programme (but not
surveyed in the dataset). Given an average value of 35 companies per team, we are 95%
confident that the true mean per province is between 30 and 40 involved companies. This
result can be used to understand the expected number of involved companies in the
programme in a six-month period: each team, on average, managed to reach and involve
35 companies. The total population of companies that joined the programme can also be
inferred: given 52 active provinces and an average of 35 companies per province, the
population counts approximately 1,820 participating companies, 1,119 of which (61% of
total) have been surveyed ex-ante and ex-post.
Finally, if companies are grouped by sector, as seen in Figure 13, the evident result is a
strong concentration of agrobusinesses (529) and craftmanship (250). Other categories
A theoretical frequency distribution for a random variable, characterized by a bell-shaped curve symmetrical about its mean. Also
called Gaussian distribution. American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. (2011).
July 27, 2015
27
follow with lower quantities: furniture (79), retail (52), wine-growers (50), industry (48),
services (46) tourism (35) and others (32).
Count by Sector
AGROALIMENTARE
529
ARTIGIANATO
250
MOBILE
79
COMMERCIO
52
VITIVINICOLO
50
INDUSTRIA
48
SERVIZI
46
TURISTICO
35
ALTRO
32
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Figure 13 Count by Sector
4.3
General Results
The overview on the general results is probably the most interesting information that can
be derived from this research project: the number of companies moving from one stage
to the next, e.g. from offline to online, is counted. This discrete jump from one stage to
the other is calculated using data collected before and after Eccellenze in Digitale, as
explained in section 4.2. Figure 14 depicts the comparison ex-ante versus ex-post for each
stage (or category).
July 27, 2015
28
expost
50
137
184
442
627
798
exante
OFFLINE
ONLINE INATTIVA
ONLINE ATTIVA
Figure 14 General Results: ex-ante vs ex-post comparison
It is evident how, during the programme, several companies moved forward, from one
stage to the next, upgrading their digital maturity, according to the framework adopted by
BCG and Google (Section 2.5). In September 2014, there were 184 offline companies
(16% of 1119 total companies). After Eccellenze in Digitale, only 50 companies were
still offline, i.e. without a proprietary and up to date website, signalling that 73% of the
originally offline companies achieved the programme objective: these companies went
online and activated a website with up to date information. This is an important
achievement: BCG research (Faraldi et al., 2011) highlights how offline companies are
penalized in the digital era, therefore, any effort aimed at the activation of offline SMEs
is beneficial to the Italian economy as a whole. Vital information for these small
businesses is now online and up to date, such as address, email, telephone number,
opening hours, services and products.
As stated throughout this research project, there is no clear and scientific proof of a direct
influence of field agents on observed change. Nevertheless, one can say that the
improvement in this category is strong enough to signal the positive effects of Eccellenze
in Digitale: digital angels intervention was free of charge and was promoted and
supported by the Chambers of Commerce system. Moreover, due to the short timespan (6
months) and the expected inertia in strategy and technology adoption (Rumelt, 1995), a
positive impact on the lower segment of participating companies can be anticipated.
Almost 134 entrepreneurs understood the strategic value of being online and undertook
an investment (mostly in the form of the resource of time) to collect and publish online
July 27, 2015
29
basic information about their businesses. It is likely that without the external stimulus
produced by Eccellenze in Digitale, those companies would be still completely offline,
without significant improvements. These last claims need to be tested using a control
group: companies not involved in the programme should be paired to involved companies,
and ex-post results should be compared to filter out any random effect, such as whether
improvements in digital maturity are spontaneous and independent from digital angels
intervention. Unfortunately, this control group was not considered by initiatives sponsors
and therefore is not available for analysis. The introduction of a control group would
create valuable data for further research: an overview of possible future follow-up
research is offered in Outlook chapter.
Moving forward to online companies: this category initially contained 798 firms, 71% of
a total 1119. In September 2014, these companies registered an active and updated
website but no digital marketing activities. After 6 months, in February 2015, 305 online
companies upgraded to online-and-active, accounting for 38% of the original category
size. The substantial upward shift of SMEs to higher digital maturity is promising: the
introduction of more sophisticated digital marketing tools and strategies, such as
ecommerce and online advertisement, indicates the start of a modernization process
towards increased company competitiveness. Similar to the previous case, the absence of
a control group, and rigorous testing, impose a cautious interpretation of this result: the
adoption of new strategies and digital tools among observed companies could be
spontaneous and independent from external intervention derived from Eccellenze in
Digitale.
It is worth noting that 62% of online companies remained in the same category: it is
possible that certain companies adopted some strategies and interventions, though not
enough to be promoted to the uppermost category during the six-month period.
Nevertheless, these companies benefited from the adoption of new digital tools and have
been exposed to new concepts and topics related to digital maturity and competitiveness.
Finally, the online-and-active category, composed of companies (or 12% of a total 1119),
is the last stage in the framework; there are no other possible upgrades from this stage.
However, effective measures and improvements can be still adopted, to boost a
companys digital profile and competitiveness. In summary, here is a representation of
July 27, 2015
30
the programmes general results through a Markov Chain (Figure 15) and corresponding
status change percentages.
Figure 15 General results displayed with Markov Chain
4.4
Impact Score
The last two Figures describe the individual achievements grouped by category (offline,
online, online-and-active). We offer an additional ranking, grouping similar data
according to province. The resulting chart provides insight into the impact of each team.
The ranking in Figure 16 displays the ability of each team to accomplish single objectives
with their tutored businesses: each promotion from offline to online and from online to
online-and-active counts as a success (number 1); similarly, 0 means no companies
upgrade. We notice the superior result of Genova, leading the ranking with 39 stage
advancements. Following Genova are Potenza (30), Pesaro (26), Lucca (25) and Rovigo
(22) totalling a score of between 20 and 30 upgrades. A large central segment includes
impact scores from 10 to 20: Ferrara (18), Avellino (17), Savona (16), Cosenza (16),
Taranto (16), Perugia (16), Sondrio (15), Reggio Emilia (15), Padova (14), Salerno (13),
Frosinone (12), Ragusa (11), Ancona (11), Terni (10) and Firenze (10). The lower
segment, with less than 10 successes, consists of Chieti (9), Campobasso (9), Ascoli
Piceno (8), Crotone (7), Fermo (7), Viterbo (7), Lecco (6), Verona (5), Biella (4), Cuneo
(4), Piacenza (3) and Venezia (1). We checked if the impact score has a normal
distribution, but the normality hypothesis must be rejected and no further inference can
be applied to this dimension.
July 27, 2015
31
"Impact" score: how many

companies moved upward?
GENOVA
POTENZA
PESARO
LUCCA
ROVIGO
FERRARA
AVELLINO
SAVONA
COSENZA
TARANTO
PERUGIA
SONDRIO
REGGIO EMILIA
PADOVA
SALERNO
FROSINONE
RAGUSA
ANCONA
TERNI
FIRENZE
CHIETI
CAMPOBASSO
ASCOLI PICENO
CROTONE
FERMO
VITERBO
LECCO
VERONA
BIELLA
CUNEO
PIACENZA
VENEZIA
39
30
26
25
22
18
17
16
16
16
16
15
15
14
13
12
11
11
10
10
9
9
8
7
7
7
6
5
4
4
3
1
0
10
20
30
40
50
Figure 16 Impact Score: affected companies per Province, 1 when shift to next category is achieved.
4.5
Best Performance Frontier
As an additional analysis of results, the author suggests the comparison between number
of involved companies and impact score, i.e. the number of companies per province that
upgraded to a higher digital maturity level (e.g. from offline to online). The outcome is
presented in Figure 17.
July 27, 2015
32
Involved companies vs. Impacted companies

45
40
32
y = 0.75x
35
Impact
30
31
30
25
29
28
20
27
25
15
10
8
18
15
11 9
3
0
0
10
20
2422 20
2321
19
17
16
14
13
12
7 6
9 10
5
4
30
40
50
26
60
70
Involvement
Figure 17 Best Performance Frontier
The scatterplot contains all 32 teams that delivered the final report: a progressive number
identifies each team. From first analysis, it is evident that most companies are on or below
a straight line with a slope of 0.75, and intercept in the origin (y = 0.75 x; where y is the
impact score and x is the involvement score). For the sake of simplicity, the author named
this line as the Best Performance Frontier: best teams reached a maximum ratio of 3
stage advancements every 4 companies involved. The teams with the highest
performances are Ferrara (legend number 27), Rovigo (#28), Potenza (#31) and Genova
(#32). Taranto (#25) has been excluded due to ambiguous results: all companies resulted
online-and-active and this is highly improbable (probably caused by a corrupted file). All
other teams performed at lower conversion rates. This insight can play a role as a rule
of thumb for each team working in the field during the programme: the effort required by
each team should tend towards the optimal ratio of the Best Performance Frontier.
Finally, ranking of conversion rates is offered in Figure 18: rates captures the relative
performance of each team, and is especially useful to compare teams regardless the
number of involved companies. Therefore, a team with relatively small number of
involved companies but high number of conversion from offline to online, for example
July 27, 2015
33
Rovigo or Ferrara, is rewarded with higher position in the ranking. Top performers of
Figure 18 are also teams closer to the Best Performance Frontier.
0,75
0,78
FERRARA (27)
0,71
ROVIGO (28)
POTENZA (31)
0,70
0,64
GENOVA (32)
0,46
SAVONA (24)
0,62
0,45
FERMO (8)
0,44
CAMPOBASSO (11)
0,61
0,43
COSENZA (22)
SALERNO (18)
0,40
PIACENZA (2)
0,57
0,38
PERUGIA (23)
ANCONA (15)
0,38
LUCCA (29)
PESARO (30)
0,38
RAGUSA (16)
0,32
REGGIO EMILIA (20)
0,31
CHIETI (12)
0,36
0,31
PADOVA (19)
SONDRIO (21)
0,28
FROSINONE (17)
0,23
CROTONE (7)
AVELLINO (26)
0,23
0,20
0,21
0,19
ASCOLI PICENO (10)
TERNI (14)
0,18
LECCO (6)
FIRENZE (13)
0,17
BIELLA (3)
0,11
VITERBO (9)
0,10
CUNEO (4)
0,04
VENEZIA (1)
VERONA (5)
RELATIVE PERFORMANCE
(CONVERSION RATE %)
Figure 18 Relative Performance based on Conversion Rates

.
4.6
Intervention Adoption
The second most interesting result is the analysis of the intervention adoption rate: during
the programme, digital angels suggested several strategies (e.g. updating their companys
blog on a regular basis to attract new readers and potential customers) and tools (e.g. web
analytics platforms to track visitors behaviour and preferences). Business owners
decided autonomously which suggested intervention to adopt, and when to adopt them.
Among possible factors that influence adoption rate of each intervention, this research
takes into account the complexity of targeted strategies or tools, the amount of time
required for the implementation and maintenance of interventions, and the availability of
proper resources and competences. The author provides a subjective insight for each
indicator, based on direct working experience within Eccellenze in Digitale.
July 27, 2015
34
EX-POST VS. EX-ANTE COMPARISON:

INTERVENTION (ADOPTION RATE)
0,27
0,06
0,14
0,05
0,03
0,06
0,12
0,19
0,27
0,12
0,23
0,07
0,15
0,06
0,11
0,15
0,27
0,13
0,57
0,66
0,79
expost
0,57
0,85
0,62
0,78
0,23
0,48
0,62
0,53
0,29
0,04
0,09
0,07
0,12
0,42
0,51
0,60
0,29
0,76
0,86
0,97
0,98
exante
Figure 19 Intervention Adoption Rate
Figure 19 displays an overview of surveyed indicators relative to September 2014 (exante) and February 2015 (ex-post), ordered according to the framework provided by
BCG and Google (Section 2.5). Together with the previous chart, another bar chart is
here provided which includes a ranking of differentials between ex-ante and ex-post, in
Figure 20. Through these two figures, it is possible to gauge the relative weight of each
intervention, considering initial and final level of adoption.
July 27, 2015
35
0,45
0,31
0,24
0,24
0,22
0,21
0,14
0,12
0,12
0,10
0,09
0,09
0,08
0,07
0,06
0,06
0,05
0,03
0,01
0,39
0,55
INTERVENTION ADOPTION RANKING

(ADOPTION RATE DIFFERENTIALS)
Figure 20 Adoption Rate Differentials
It is clear from observing this graph that Google My Business is the most adopted tool
in the group, with a 55% increase, beginning at 23% and reaching a 78% adoption rate.
Google My Business was launched in 2014 (Pritchett & Troper, 2014): My Business
aggregates under the same umbrella information and customer interaction derived from
Google Search, Google Maps, and Google+. It is a free service meant to provide better
visibility in search results through various existing Google products. Organizations and
businesses which are active on My Business can obtain a Knowledge Graph (Figure
21); a squared information box on the top right corner of the Google result pages
(Singhal, 2012).
July 27, 2015
36
Figure 21 Example of Knowledge Graph for Google My Business (source: Google.com)
In addition to the Knowledge Graph, My Business activates a page on the social network
Google+ and a marker on Google Maps. Therefore, My Business collects all basic
business information to connect efficiently to customers, such as opening hours, address,
phone number, logo and photos within the Google ecosystem all updated from a single
dashboard. Geo-localization of businesses and shortcuts to phone numbers and reviews
(see Figure 22) should simplify the customers searches for stores and products.
Figure 22 Example of My Business in Google Search on mobile devices (source: Google.com)
Google My Business activation is not flawless: its implementation requires the

verification of each business, to avoid false information and profile stealing. My Business
July 27, 2015
37
offers two different authentication processes: an automatic phone call to the indicated
phone numbers for all businesses present in Google Search, or the shipping of a personal
code to a specified physical address for all new businesses. In both cases, business owners
had some issues: answering machines can miss or deviate phone calls and postal services
can lose postcards. These trivial issues constitute what can be defined as the cost of
connecting real economy (made of entrepreneurs and small businesses) to the digital
world, made of bits and databases. These efforts are necessary to populate a database with
up-to-date and reliable information about physical stores and business activities: accuracy
and solid reputation become crucial for Google, as a global information provider and
organizer, and for companies, as the endpoint for customer interaction and experience.
Wrong opening hours or addresses can develop into unpleasant customer experiences and
potentially damage a brands reputation.
The second most adopted tool is a Google+ page, the equivalent of a Facebook page: a
public web page where organizations and businesses post their contents and develop
direct communications with customers and users (Rouse, 2011). The adoption rate
increase, from 13% to 57% (+45%), is strongly correlated to the success of Google My
Business: My Business is a bundle of services, and its activation includes a Google+ page.
Google+ is a relatively small social network when compared to others: Facebook counts
1415 million monthly active users, LinkedIn, 347 million, while Google+ counts 300
million active users (Statista, 2015). Additional communication channels impose an extra
effort on already scarce resources in each SME: according to digital marketing strategists,
each channel should have an objective, scope and original contents (Chaffey, EllisChadwick, Mayer, & Johnston, 2009). The implicit risk of the activation of new channels
(e.g. Facebook, Twitter, etc.) is the lack of long-term strategy: absent editorial plans and
constant content updates increase the probability of early channel desertion by business
owners and subsequent potential loss of reputation through a perception of carelessness
(Jones, 2014). Therefore, automatic creation of additional social channels is not entirely
positive and accepted by business owners who are forced to allocate additional resources
where not intended or planned, to avoid a ghost town effect (Jones, 2014).
The third and fourth most adopted strategies are the updating of social networks (+39%)
and the updating of business websites (+31%). According to the digital maturity
framework adopted in this research project, a website is considered updated when the
July 27, 2015
38
company updates it at regular intervals: e.g. for the fashion industry, twice a year, when
new collections are launched. The same applies for social networks, where the category
updated social implies that the business owner regularly updates at least one social
network. These two categories are more subjective than Google My Business and
Google+ activations (they can be assessed in different ways, and therefore the definition
is not rigorous), however they indicate a relevant change in digital maturity: the habit to
update a website or social page with new and original content is difficult to instil in
business owners minds. Therefore, these results are promising and benefit the whole
economy: from 27% to 66% of SMEs started (or re-started, if they interrupted the updates
in the past) to update at least one of their social channels on a regular basis, while 60%
(starting from 29%) were updating their websites on a regular basis. There is the risk that
successful companies could stop after the programme is completed. Even so, the author
observed a direct satisfaction of business owners especially when updating their social
channels: user-friendly analytics dashboards (e.g. Insights for Facebook pages) provided
a direct and immediate measure of web traffic volume and composition. The instant
gratification of an increased number of visitors interactions on the social channel
motivates the entrepreneur to keep investing in content creation and curation.
Descending the ranking, we find the fifth most adopted strategy: activation and use of
web analytics (+24%, starting from 29% adoption rate). Web analytics applications
consist of tools to measure, collect and analyse data on website traffic. It is a critical
resource for understanding the behaviour of visitors and potential customers: analytics
platforms aggregate a multitude of information in a single dashboard, providing useful
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to website owners. Among the most widespread free
analytics tools, we find Google Analytics (Walgrove, 2015), which was the first choice
for most of the involved companies. Web analytics information is vital for wise decisionmaking processes within any organization and should be used as a resource to understand
customer profile and behaviour. Through direct experience in Eccellenze in Digitale,
the author verified that entrepreneurs often do not use data coming from their digital
marketing channels to drive their decisions. In some cases, analytics tools were often
installed and operative, but not consulted by business decision makers within the firm.
Therefore, the role of programme interns was useful to explain to entrepreneurs the
importance of web metrics analysis and data-driven management. Reading and
July 27, 2015
39
understanding web analytics is an essential skill for modern businesses: the ability to
collect data with cheap, fast and precise information technology is essential to raise
productivity and competitiveness. Companies that do not leverage internal data are
missing many business opportunities (Jansen, 2009). Eccellenze in Digitale and similar
initiatives are valuable for introducing micro and small companies to digital
entrepreneurship (European Commission, 2014a).
Next in the ranking, is social channel activation with a 24% increment, starting at 62%.
The variable social in the BCG-Google framework turns to positive (from 0 to 1) if the
business has at least one active social channel. The initial share of 62% was already
positive and the sustained increment could explain a general satisfaction and adoption by
entrepreneurs. Direct dialogue with business owners revealed a common answer: social
networks are, on average, more user-friendly and have gradual learning curves. Layout is
fixed and these platforms provide just-in-time instructions and hints that streamline the
content distribution. This results in users creating content more easily and updating their
social networks with new content more frequently.
Descending the adoption rate ranking, we find the activation of a Facebook page:
increasing by +22%, starting from a 62% ex-ante adoption rate. At the end of the
programme, in February 2014, 79% of surveyed companies were active on Facebook with
a business page. According to our previous variable updated social, we can claim that
approximately 66% of these businesses update their page regularly. Facebook is the
predominant social network with 1415 million active users (Statista, 2015): even if the
indicator refers to all social networks, this result suggests entrepreneurs choose Facebook
as their first choice.
There are two main insights about Facebook implementation and utilization. First, in
several cases (approximately one out of 4 businesses in the province of Padova), the
author found that Facebook was incorrectly configured; these entrepreneurs activated a
profile instead of a fan page. A physical person activates a profile, while businesses and
organizations can benefit most from using a fan page (Facebook Help Centre, 2015a).
Lack of knowledge or mistakes contributed in part to these erroneous setups, while the
remainder comprises old profiles, activated when pages were not available to users. For
July 27, 2015
40
these users, Facebook provides a guided procedure to convert a profile into a fan page
(Facebook Help Centre, 2015b).
The second insight emerged through the authors direct interaction: entrepreneurs are
concerned about continuous transformation of web platforms - e.g. a Facebook graphical
update or a new regulation on cookies and privacy (European Commission, 2015). This
constant evolution of web technologies forces small companies to consume internal
resources to adjust their organization. These environment variations challenge SMEs to
adapt quickly and remain competitive. Supported entrepreneurs were often disoriented
and confused while describing their frustrations and challenges related to digital
technologies. Equally, the collaboration with business angels reassured these
entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, benefits and aids are limited to programme length and
probably not self-sustaining after the programme concludes. The authors opinion
coincides with the e-skills European strategy (European Commission, 2014b): long
lasting investments in human capital renovation are necessary and strategic for each
European firm, especially for Italian SMEs.
The intervention ranking continues with the marketing variable: the indicator is positive
if the company manages a marketing campaign on social networks through the adoption
of an editorial plan, an advertising campaign or the distribution of discount coupons. The
Marketing factor is more advanced than previous ones, and rests on basic elements,
such as the activation and utilization of a social channel. Additionally, it requires a basic
familiarity with digital payments to buy advertisements. Marketing started at 5%
adoption level in the collected sample, and increased to 27% (+21%). This indicator
covers different approaches (scheduled posts, advertisement, discounts) and demonstrates
that the entrepreneur has a clear strategy and plan in mind. An editorial plan requires
detailed planning, a prior analysis of marketing objectives and attentive execution.
Similar reasoning applies to advertising campaigns: even if a campaign setup may be
simplified and user friendly, users need to plan their target customer and budget
(Lavinsky, 2013). Therefore, the marketing indicator tells an interesting story about
the shift to more complex marketing techniques and an increased awareness of digital
marketing potential.
July 27, 2015
41
Third Party indicates that a company appears on third party websites with news, articles
and links on websites out of the companys ownership. In this case, the ex-ante level was
48% and raised to 62% (+14%). This practice is especially important in generating traffic
from referrals (Walters, 2015): from the exchange of links, to sophisticated journalistic
coverage, all these strategies are useful for increasing visibility of content, products and
services. Content provided by impartial third parties reinforces business and brand
reputation: crosschecking and references mitigate the risk of pure self-promotion and
biased feedback.
Twitter totalized a 12% improvement, rising from 15% to 27%. Compared with
Facebook, Twitter is three times less popular within the sample. This sample adoption is
higher than global adoption: Twitter counts 288 million active users, while Facebook
1415 million (Statista, 2015). Twitter has a minimal design and relies on fast public
messages limited to 140 characters: this design is suitable for broadcasting corporate news
and strengthening brand image (McMahon, 2010). Twitters functionality is therefore not
as attractive to SMEs, which are already struggling among several available marketing
channels. It is interesting to note that Google+ started from a lower ex-ante level (13%)
and surpassed Twitter, with ex-post adoption at 57% (driven by Google My Business
bundling).
The YouTube indicator, like Twitter, gained 12 percentage points, from 12% to 23%.
YouTube is a video publishing platform owned by Google (McLaughlin, 2012), and
generates 22.38% of all downstream Internet bandwidth usage in Europe (Sandvine,
2014). Videos provide a solid platform for brand awareness, but are generally costly and
difficult to realize. Probably for this reason, many entrepreneurs discarded YouTube as
an option.
The Site indicator measures if a company owns a website. This feature was at 76% in
September 2014 and increased by 10%, stabilizing at 86%. The presence of a website is
rather obvious, but most websites are old and obsolete. This trend is reinforced with data
from EBAV (2014): 50.1% of websites were built after 2010, 33.8% between 2006 and
2010, 13.2% between 2000 and 2005, 2.9% before 2000. Therefore, most websites are
obsolete, non-responsive (i.e. not suitable for small screens such as smartphones) and not
up to date. In this case, programme coordinator invited field agents to collaborate with
July 27, 2015
42
existing web agency: entrepreneurs, supported by programme intern, contacted their web
agency or a new one and required quote for the creation or restyling of their website. The
construction of a website can be time-consuming and resource-intensive task: therefore,
six months is often too short period to accomplish this strategy with success.
The Translation indicator is active when a company website is translated in at least one
additional language to Italian. The share of companies with a translated website was 42%
ex-ante and 51% ex-post (9% growth). Translations, especially in English, are crucial to
connect with broader markets and foreign customers (Nantel & Glaser, 2008). However,
translations can be expensive and difficult to maintain. Nevertheless, machine translation
services are steadily improving: translations are more accurate and have fewer mistakes
(Groves & Mundt, 2015). This improvement could boost the adoption of automatic
translators (Zens & Ney, 2004).
Instagram is a visual social network owned by Facebook and allows users to post pictures
and comments (McLaughlin, 2015). Companies use Instagram to strengthen their brand
image by sharing pictures of products, production processes and events with followers
(i.e. users receiving automatic updates on a specific brand or topic). Instagram has 300
million active users (Statista, 2015). Among Italian SMEs in the project sample, ex-ante
level was 7% and rose to ex-post 15% (+9%). Instagram adoption denotes advanced
approach to digital marketing (like YouTube and Twitter implementation).
The Export indicator started at 6% and rose to 14% (+8%): a positive indicator suggests
that companies had a digital strategy to promote their exports. Their marketing campaigns
and social networks are translated in a foreign language. Export is an advanced strategy
and the author expected a minor increase in adoption. Nevertheless, this result is
promising, as 8% of analysed companies introduced an elaborate strategy to boost
productivity and increase exports. Entrepreneurs require several preliminary features (or
building blocks) to launch a marketing campaign in a foreign language: translation (to
exploit internal linguistic expertise), analytics (to explore and understand new markets),
marketing (to leverage existing editorial plans and promotional material). The adoption
of advanced techniques is highly influenced by the existence of these building blocks: the
experience collected with prior marketing actions consolidates into a platform, on top of
which entrepreneurs can build articulate strategies.
July 27, 2015
43
The Ecommerce factor initially had a 12% adoption share, and increased to 19% (+7%).
Managing an ecommerce implies a lot of decision making: an ecommerce has many
similarities with a physical store. It requires choosing an industry or product, managing
suppliers and running the ecommerce (Gleeson, 2014). It can range from a small
temporary shop with few articles and limited payment methods to a multivendor shop
with millions of different products. Ecommerce success depends upon a solid business
model and an articulate digital marketing strategy. Mature ecommerce requires a large
amount of internal and external resources: updates, content creation, sales management
and logistics are activities that demand specialized professionals. Therefore, this
ecommerce strategy was rarely adopted in the available sample of 1119 SMEs.
Getting closer to the end of the adoption ranking, we find updated blog (+6%) and
blog (+5%). These two results are interesting because they highlight how difficult it is
to maintain a blog. Blogs are digital diaries (weblogs) and companies can blog about
internal news, new products or services. Writing a post can be time consuming and
requires developed writing skills to maximize return on invested time: for example, one
hour of writing and editing should result in a satisfactory number of readers and
interactions (Patel, 2013). Both strategies started at a low level, at 7% for blog and 4%
for updated blog. Improvements in blog adoption were limited, despite the relative
simplicity of blog activation. Blogs require constant work and absorb a considerable
amount of resources. Therefore, few SMEs decided to adopt this strategy.
LinkedIn is the fourth indicator from the last, with a growth of 6%, stopping at 11% in
September 2015. LinkedIn is a social network for professionals: with 300 million active
users (Statista, 2015), and is used predominantly by big corporations to promote their
brand and attract potential employees (Rouse, 2015). SMEs and entrepreneurs are seldom
active on LinkedIn, due to the cost of additional channel management. Entrepreneurs
often perceive LinkedIn as advanced and not useful in the short term. This belief could
be proven wrong, since visibility on LinkedIn could create business opportunities,
facilitating research of potential partners, suppliers and employees.
The second last variable is AdWords, with a +3%, starting from 3%. AdWords is a
Google product for advertisement: customers buy web traffic towards their websites and
content through paid announcements and links that appears on the top and right portion
July 27, 2015
44
of search engine result pages (Webopedia, 2015). Sponsored links appear when users are
searching for keywords in their online searches. Advertisers buy the same keywords that
appear in users searches. Different advertisers pick the same keywords (e.g. Italian
leather shoes); therefore, Google AdWords implements an auction system. Each new
result page constitutes an automatic auction in which advertisers compete for top
positions with their bids. AdWords constitutes the core of Google revenue generation: in
2012, Google accrued $33.3 billion in revenue, 97% of which came from AdWords
keywords ($32.2 billion) (Barton, 2013). However, entrepreneurs participating in
Eccellenze in Digitale perceived advertising to be a superfluous investment and the
advertisement investments were relatively low.
Mail is the last variable in our adoption ranking: 1% of companies adopted mail as a
business tool during the six-month period. 97% of surveyed companies were already
using emails to communicate with customers and suppliers. Thus, mail was widely
adopted even before Eccellenze in Digitale: it is a basic aspect of business
communication among Italian SMEs. More could be said about the use of newsletter and
Direct Email Marketing (DEM), but this strategy was not contemplated in BCG
framework, hence data is not available.
After the complete presentation of adoption rate ranking, the author suggests an additional
division, based on the observation of share differential and ex-post adoption levels. The
indicators that totalized an adoption rate below 15% and an ex-post level below 30% can
be defined as advanced interventions. Such indicators are more sophisticated approaches
that rest on underlying building blocks: they are accessible and sustainable to structured
businesses. The features respecting these thresholds are the blog, the updated blog,
Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, ecommerce, AdWords and export. Most of these
strategies are in the second half of the BCG/Google grid: framework designers expected
that these features would come at a later stage of digital maturity. There is an exception
for blog and updated blogs: both of these are in the first half of the framework, grouped
with basic strategies (e.g. mail, site, analytics), but received relatively little attention from
entrepreneurs.
4.7
July 27, 2015
Job Placement Results
45
Recently, youth unemployment in Italy has become a major issue for the Italian economy:
between 2007 and 2014, unemployment among those aged 15-25 more than doubled,
from 20% to 42.7% (Figure 23). General unemployment also doubled from 6.1% to
12.7% in the same time interval.
ITALIAN UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

Unemployment rate
Unemployment rate aged 15-24
45
40
40
35,3
35
30
24,1
25
25,3
21,8
20,4
27,9
29,2
21,2
20
15
10
42,7
7,7
6,8
6,1
6,7
7,7
8,4
8,4
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
10,7
12,1
12,7
2013
2014
5
0
2012
Figure 23 Youth unemployment growth during the recession. Source: Istat, 2015
There are two possible major approaches to tackle the problem of youth unemployment
and lack of digital maturity among Italian SMEs. On one hand, the introduction of a dual
system would increase the possibilities of vocational guidance and job skills acquisition:
following the German-speaking countries model, apprenticeships are offered during the
school period (Deissinger & Hellwig, 2005). The introduction of a dual system is a
medium to long-term objective that requires state intervention. On the other hand,
initiatives such as Eccellenze in Digitale can be useful to test the efficacy of such
public-private investments to tackle youth unemployment.
To reinforce this thesis, the author designed and performed an online survey targeted to
agents: the assessment measures the placement situation 3 months after the programme
completion, as well as the general satisfaction of interns. The survey has been sent to 96
interns out of a total of 105. 47 replied to the online survey, which puts the response rate
at 49%. Distribution of sex and age is provided in Figure 24 and Figure 25 respectively.
July 27, 2015
46
Sex of Respondents
30
25
20
15
28
10
19
5
0
female
man
Figure 24 Distribution of Respondents Sex
Distribution of
Respondents Age
15
10
5
0
23
24
25
26
27
28
Figure 25 Distribution of Respondents Age
The first question provides an overview on job placements after the programme: 13
interns were working as freelancers at the time of the survey, collaborating with one or
more companies on a project basis as external resources. This job profile is similar to the
programmes main task: supporting different companies to digitize their business. 12
respondents found a job within a company not involved with or met during Eccellenze
in Digitale. 9 are still searching for a job 3 months after the conclusion of the programme.
7 interns returned to university to continue their third, fourth or doctoral level studies. 4
digital angels are working within a company originally involved in the project. Finally, 2
of the group returned to their prior employment. Excluding those who continued their
studies, the majority of youths involved are now employed (31 out of 40, 77.5%), though
it is not possible to attribute all of these new jobs to their participation in Eccellenze in
Digitale. However, interns benefited from a valuable professional experience and high
visibility in several companies within their local economy.
July 27, 2015
47
The author asked in the survey if the job opportunity was directly connected to the
programme (Figure 26) to understand if the programme had any influence on the
attainment of these new jobs.
Job Opportunity related to "Eccellenze in

Digitale"
20
18
16
15
12
10
5
1
0
yes
no
unemployed
(blank)
Figure 26 Connection between Programme and New Job
Those who replied positively can be roughly accounted for as those who are now
freelancers or working within a company involved in the programme. While those whose
jobs are not connected to the internship with Google and Unioncamere roughly
correspond to those who are working within companies external to the programme.
A question about the willingness to register a VAT number (value added tax) offers
insight into the interns expectations and placement strategy, Figure 27. VAT number
allows the possibility of working on a project basis with different companies as external
collaborators and has specific costs and requisites (Gov.UK, 2015). 10 interns
(approximately 21%) registered for a VAT number and started a professional career as a
freelancer. Another 12 (26%) planned to register for it in the future. The remaining 25
(53%) decided not to register for a VAT number, nor did they plan to in the future.
July 27, 2015
48
REGISTER FOR VAT

yes; 10
future; 12
no; 25
Figure 27 Number of Interns registering for VAT
Finally, the survey offers an indication of the level of general satisfaction with
Eccellenze in Digitale. Respondents gave a score on a scale of 1 to 10 to the overall
experience: the median score was 7, while the average was 6.8. The level of satisfaction
appears to be normally distributed (Figure 28). However, score 3 has a higher frequency
than is typically expected in a normal distribution. The majority of participants were
satisfied with the programme. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to investigate the
motivations of those who assessed the programme to be non-satisfactory, with a score of
below 6. The programme coordinators did not administer satisfaction survey, and overall
perception of the project was not available before this research project.
Distribution of Satisfaction Level

20
16
15
10
10
6
5
4
2
1
0
3
10
Figure 28 Distribution of Satisfaction Level among Respondents.
July 27, 2015
49
5.
Conclusions
The analysis of the programme results confirms the general positive impact of
Eccellenze in Digitale. The programme helped micro and small companies in Italy to
increase their digital maturity level: this achievement was possible using the BCG/Google
framework as a guideline and checklist for strategy formulation and implementation.
Indeed, programme trainees were able to impact positively the majority of companies:
73% of offline companies upgraded from offline to online and 38% of those online turned
into online-and-active businesses.
5.1
Strategy Adoption Overview
From the strategy adoption point of view, it is interesting to note that some Google
products greatly benefited from the programme. My Business (+55%), Google+ (+45%)
and Analytics (+24%) exhibited a solid increase from September 2014 to February 2015.
At the same time, more advanced products from Google, such as YouTube (+12%) and
AdWords (+3%) scored a lower growth rate. This could be due to higher costs: production
time for YouTube and an advertisement budget for AdWords. The overall impact of
Eccellenze in Digitale is favourable to Google, which observed a small but measurable
increase in SMEs activity over the Internet. This activity increment on the web is crucial
for Google success in the long term: its revenues are strongly correlated to time that its
users spend on the Internet (Barton, 2013). In addition, the companies that upgrade their
strategies are likely to invest sooner or later on direct advertisement on Google platforms
(AdWords and AdSense) or other competing platforms, increasing the total revenue of
the advertisement industry.
The programme fosters digital culture among small companies: a new approach to
business decisions and marketing is offered to traditional entrepreneurs. Business owners
obtain the opportunity to discuss and explore digital solutions and concepts. Eccellenze
in Digitale has the effect of exposing traditional businesses with the digital approach:
any decisions can be supported by data, any market reactions and can be measured
precisely, cheaply and on a real-time basis. Eccellenze in Digitale was often the first
exposure to digital marketing for micro and small companies: the cultural shock should
help entrepreneurs to understand the potential of the Internet and digital technologies. For
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50
those who had already had previous contact with the digital world, Eccellenze in
Digitale offered an opportunity to enrich their strategies and determine their next steps.
Unioncamere and local subsidiaries (e.g. the Chamber of Commerce of Padova) gained a
capillary network of young digital angels to support existing Chambers of Commerce
in the delicate task of digitizing Italian SMEs. Moreover, a young workforce offered
Unioncamere the opportunity to rejuvenate its own workforce and organizational
structure with the digital culture: daily engagement between Chambers employees and
Eccellenze in Digitale agents created the chance for dialogue and informal training in
both directions: in some cases, interns helped to digitize the hosting Chamber of
Commerce. This is the case for the author of this research project: during the six-month
period, the Chamber of Commerce of Padova implemented a professional email
marketing service provider to enhance the official newsletter. This improvement was
possible thanks to the help and influence of agents in Padova, namely Francesco Zitelli
and Alberto Borz.
5.2
Occupational Effects
It is important to note the general positive impact on job placement of programme interns:
excluding 9 who are still searching for a job (19%) and 7 who continued their studies
(14%), most of the interns (65%, 31 out of 47 survey respondents) found a job within 3
months of the end of the programme. Looking at the satisfaction level, the programme
was a positive experience for the majority of involved workers. Eccellenze in Digitale
is likely to have positively influenced the transition from university to the first
employment of participating employees. The opportunity to support entrepreneurs with
new human capital, equipped with basic ICT skills and with a collaborative attitude,
benefits both the assisted firm and new hired workers, as these individuals are likely to
be a part of the youngest generation and, therefore, can positively affect youth
unemployment.
Observing the collected data and related results, the author claims that the programme
reached its expected objective. A committee constituted by Unioncamere and Google
designed the project and trained a group of young resources in digital marketing basics.
Young digital angels involved and supported SMEs in the implementation of digital
tools and strategies within their company borders. This accelerated adoption of new
July 27, 2015
51
strategies contributed to the digitization of involved companies (or at least some of them).
The digital transformation of micro and small companies resulted in higher visibility of
products and services of involved companies. More structured businesses augmented
their investments in advertisement and promotion, adopting more sophisticated strategies.
Digital transformation improved the productivity and competitiveness of such SMEs. In
turn, these SMEs increased activity should benefit all connected partners and suppliers,
that is the local cluster.
The positive effect is concrete and favourable but still limited to the relatively small
number of digital angels per year and short period of active operations. In the Outlook
section, future scenarios are discussed in depth. In conclusion, Eccellenze in Digitale
succeeded in promoting a discussion and debate about competitiveness and digital
potential within SMEs and the Chamber of Commerce network. This cultural
achievement is likely to produce benefits for the Italian economy in the medium to long
term.
July 27, 2015
52
6.
Outlook
This last chapter presents possible future scenarios concerning upcoming editions of
Eccellenze in Digitale, followed by an overview of further possible research on this
topic and some suggestions to enhance the programme.
6.1
Future Programme Developments
Eccellenze in Digitale is the second initiative promoted by Google and Unioncamere

in two years. The first was Distretti sul Web in 2013/14 and involved 20 Italian
graduates (Ferri, 2013). Eccellenze in Digitale trained 105 graduates in 2014/15. The
current edition (2015/16), again called Eccellenze in Digitale, consists of 150 graduates
employed for 9 months. The progressive expansion of the programme suggests there is a
clear strategy to establish a permanent initiative, involving a new group of young people
every year. Eccellenze in Digitale is gathering a conspicuous amount of financial
resources, both from Google and Unioncamere. Table 3 offers an overview of increasing
investments and potential trends.
Distretti sul Web
Eccellenze in Digitale 1
Eccellenze in Digitale 2
Year
2013/14
2014/15
2015/16
Length (months)
Interns
20
105
150
Monthly Salary ()
1000
1000
1000
Total cost of salaries
120
630
1350
( thousands)
Table 3 Investments in SMEs digitization by Google and Unioncamere. Source: Unioncamere
Eccellenze in Digitale is setting a new trend: it constitutes a professional opportunity

for young graduates searching for valid work experiences just after university. The
programme is comparable to postgraduate training in its ability to accelerate the transition
from university to first employment. The sponsorship of two relevant institutions such as
July 27, 2015
53
Google and Unioncamere corroborates the efficacy of Eccellenze in Digitale. At the

same time, this financial effort is benefiting SMEs involved in the programme: digital
angels supported the digitization of Italian businesses, adding small but tangible benefits
to business competitiveness. Data on job placements of interns reveals that Eccellenze
in Digitale helped to match young workers to SMEs willing to invest in digital
marketing. In this regard, the initiative promoted by Google and Unioncamere is
establishing a best practice to stimulate the creation of specialized jobs, the promotion of
digital culture among digital businesses and the direct support to the digitization of
business processes.
Moreover, Google and Unioncamere are now supporting a new initiative promoted by the
Italian Ministry of Labour: Crescere in Digitale is an upcoming programme financed
through the EU Youth Guarantee (Abeltino, 2015). The sponsors of this new programme
plan to create 3000 traineeships for young people under 25. These youths will be sorted
from those who are currently Not engaged in Education, Employment or Training
(NEET): Youth Guarantee is a European Union initiative to promote the creation of highquality job places for young Europeans. Italian SMEs can enrol in the programme to
obtain one of the trainees for free: traineeships are of 6 months duration and are paid 500
per month through the funding of Youth Guarantee. Hiring companies will receive
additional fiscal incentives up to 6000, due to regulations on youth employment
incentives (Crescere in Digitale, 2015). Crescere in Digitale should benefit from the
accumulated expertise of Google and Unioncamere: if this newer programme would
exhibit similar job placement effects to Eccellenze in Digitale, thousands of new
qualified digital workers would be available in the job market in the near future. Youth
unemployment would find a relevant reduction in the short term. In Italy in 2017 a
shortage of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) specialists is forecasted:
a study commissioned by the European Union forecasts 77000 unfilled vacancies in the
Italian ICT sector (Hsing, Korte, & Dashja, 2015). A sustained effort by Unioncamere
and Google in the digitization of SMEs and training of young graduates is contributing
towards reducing this labour offer deficit.
6.2
Customer Relationship Management
The direct experience in Eccellenze in Digitale and the research project that followed
offered the author the chance to formulate a suggestion to improve the programme: the
July 27, 2015
54
target process of potential improvement is the reporting phase. Interns work as external
consultants helping entrepreneurs to adopt new technological solutions. After the initial
assessment of as is situation, digital angels suggest an action plan to reach a to be
situation. At the end of the six months period, interns check if their action plan has been
thoroughly implemented measuring the companys digital maturity. All these tasks rely
on basic Project Management (PM) skills: each new collaboration with a firm constitutes
a single consultancy project. Moreover, each entrepreneur can be considered as a
customer: a customer relationship management (CRM) software would help tracking
customer portfolio and sharing with a colleague or supervisors strategic information about
involved SMEs. The author observed a potential margin for improvement to streamline
the communication and reporting between supervising committee (coordinated by
Unioncamere) and field agents. Reporting of week and month progress was rather
inefficient during Eccellenze in Digitale: reporting forms were developed as standalone
spreadsheets (and not a centralized database) and were exchanged through emails as
attachments. This increased the overhead on supervisors, who had to aggregate manually
weekly and monthly reports. Final reports with ex-ante and ex-post results were also
problematic: lack of precise instructions delayed (and in some cases interrupted) the
reporting activity of several teams (see Appendix 6.3).
To improve this situation, the author suggests the adoption of a CRM with PM
functionalities, centrally distributed by Unioncamere to all field agents. For
demonstrative purposes, the prototype of this environment has been developed with
Podio, an online work platform owned by Citrix. Other platforms are also valid, e.g.
Trello, or a brand new solution can be developed using the requirements identified during
programme execution. The flexibility of Podio allows to create personalized databases
that can be shared across an organization. Each item in these tables has customizable
fields. An adhoc screencast explains the setup of the prototype (Zitelli, 2015). The
suggested solution has been presented to programme coordinators (Diego Ciulli for
Google and Barbara Martini for Unioncamere). Apparently the suggestion has been
accepted: the present edition of Eccellenze in Digitale, started in July 2015, introduced a
dashboard to collect reports and training material in a unique place.
Finally, the author suggests a CRM solution to improve the collection of data about
economic performance of involved companies: as anticipated in Chapter 2 introduction,
July 27, 2015
55
data about ex-ante and ex-post measures on revenues and other financial KPIs would help
to estimate the real effect of ICT adoption on companys performance. Quantitative
methods would allow for deep analysis of correlations between digital transformation and
business performance: scientific results based on a statistically significant sample proving
the efficacy of Eccellenze in Digital would provide solid foundations for further
initiatives and investments in this direction.
July 27, 2015
56
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Appendices
6.3
Provinces
Alessandria
Ancona
Arezzo
Ascoli
Avellino
Benevento
Biella
Bolzano
Brindisi
Campobasso
Caserta
Chieti
Cosenza
Cremona
Crotone
Cuneo
Fermo
Ferrara
Firenze
Foggia
Forl Cesena
Frosinone
Genova
Gorizia
Lecco
Lucca
Macerata
Matera
Novara
Oristano
Padova
July 27, 2015
Provinces list and dataset availability

Dataset
n/a
n/a
n/a *
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a *
n/a *
n/a *
Pavia
Perugia
Pesaro Urbino
Piacenza
Pordenone
Potenza
Ragusa
Reggio Calabria
Reggio Emilia
Rovigo
Salerno
Savona
Sondrio
Taranto
Terni
Trento
Venezia
Verbano Cusio Ossola
Verona
Vicenza
Viterbo
Not Available
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a *
n/a
20
Note: where not indicated, the dataset is

n/a
n/a
n/a *
n/a
n/a
available.
*: Spreadsheet was not setup properly
66
6.4
Normality Check for Number of Companies per Province

(performed with R and Rcmdr)
Summary statistics:
summary(Province)
##
##
##
##
##
##
##
Min.
: 7.00
1st Qu.:25.50
Median :37.00
Mean
:34.97
3rd Qu.:42.25
Max.
:65.00
Mean of count is 34.97: each team (or Province) worked on average with 35 companies.
Histogram:
with(Province, Hist(count, scale="frequency", breaks="Sturges",
col="darkgray"))
The histogram is unimodal and symmetric (apart from lighter right tail).
Test for Normality:
with(Province, shapiro.test(count))
##
## Shapiro-Wilk normality test
##
## data: count
## W = 0.9882, p-value = 0.9739
The Null Hypothesis cannot be rejected and there is high confidence the distribution is normally distributed.
July 27, 2015
Normal plot (quantile-quantile plot):

with(Province, qqPlot(count, dist="norm", id.method="y", id.n=2,
labels=rownames(Province)))
The number of companies per province distribution adheres to the normal distribution.
Population mean: assuming the 26 provinces are randomly sampled from the population
(52 provinces) and given the normal distribution sample, a 95% confidence interval can
be inferred for the average number of involved companies per province, using a t-test
calculation:
t.test.result
##
## One Sample t-test
##
## data: count
## t = 14.4606, df = 31, p-value = 2.516e-15
## alternative hypothesis: true mean is not equal to 0
## 95 percent confidence interval:
## 30.03677 39.90073
## sample estimates:
## mean of x
## 34.96875
We are 95% confident that the true mean per province is between 30 and 40 involved
companies.
July 27, 2015
6.5
Normality Check for Impact score per Province

(performed with R and Rcmdr)
Summary statistics:
summary(Impact)
## count
## Min.
: 1.00
## 1st Qu.: 7.00
## Median :11.50
## Mean
:13.19
## 3rd Qu.:16.00
## Max.
:39.00
Mean of count is 13.19: sampled teams (or Provinces) supported and witnessed 13
companies on average.
Histogram:
with(Impact, Hist(count, scale="frequency", breaks="Sturges",
col="darkgray"))
The histogram is unimodal but definitely asymmetric.

Test for Normality:
with(Impact, shapiro.test(count))
##
## Shapiro-Wilk normality test
##
## data: count
## W = 0.918, p-value = 0.01832
July 27, 2015
The Null Hypothesis can be rejected: the distribution is not normally distributed with 95%
confidence level.
Normal plot (quantile-quantile plot):
with(Impact, qqPlot(count, dist="norm", id.method="y", id.n=2,
labels=rownames(Province)))
The Normal plot testimonies that Impact score per province distribution does not follow a normal
distribution. Further conclusions on population parameters are not possible, due to lack of
normality.
July 27, 2015
6.6
Normality Check for Satisfaction Level
Summary statistics:
##
##
##
##
##
##
Satisfaction level
Min.
: 3.000
1st Qu.: 6.000
Median : 7.000
Mean
: 6.761
3rd Qu.: 8.000
Max.
:10.000
Histogram:
with(Dataset, Hist(X9, scale="frequency", breaks="Sturges",
col="darkgray"))
The histogram is unimodal and asymmetric.

Test for Normality:
## with(Dataset, shapiro.test(satisfaction))
##
Shapiro-Wilk normality test
## data: satisfaction
## W = 0.9159, p-value = 0.002731
The Null Hypothesis can be rejected and there is 95% confidence level that the satisfaction
distribution is not normally distributed.
July 27, 2015

Made in Italy: Eccellenze in Digitale

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Made in Italy:

Author: Francesco Zitelli

July 27, 2015

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Dino Schwaferts

Master of Science in Business Information Systems

July 27, 2015

July 27, 2015

July 27, 2015

Statement of Authenticity ................................................................................................. II

July 27, 2015

Problem Description and Purpose of the Study ........................... 2

Thesis Statement and Research Questions ..................................2

Chapter Overview ........................................................................3

Theoretical Framework ...................................................................................4

Dimensional Limit of Italian SMEs .............................................5

From Production to Market-driven Management ........................ 7

Districts Resistance to Digital Transformation .......................... 9

ICT applied to Marketing .......................................................... 10

Italian SMEs digital maturity level ..........................................11

Research Method .......................................................................................... 14

Research Philosophy ..................................................................14

Research Approach ....................................................................15

Research Purpose .......................................................................16

Research Strategy and Choices ..................................................16

Time Horizon .............................................................................16

Data Collection Methods and Techniques .................................16

Programme Description ............................................................. 18

Geographical Analysis ............................................................... 22

General Results ..........................................................................28

Impact Score ..............................................................................31

Best Performance Frontier ......................................................... 32

Intervention Adoption ................................................................ 34

Job Placement Results ............................................................... 45

Strategy Adoption Overview ..................................................... 50

Occupational Effects ..................................................................51

Future Programme Developments .............................................53

Customer Relationship Management .........................................54

July 27, 2015

Provinces list and dataset availability ........................................66

Normality Check for Number of Companies per Province

Normality Check for Impact score per Province (performed

Normality Check for Satisfaction Level ..................................5

Eccellenze in Digitale is an initiative promoted by Google and Unioncamere (Union of

July 27, 2015

Problem Description and Purpose of the Study

Thesis Statement and Research Questions

On average, is the intervention sufficient to move a company up to the next

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the programme?

How the programme could be improved?

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Programme Description; Geographical Analysis General Results;

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Figure 1 Theory Framework underlying the Thesis Statement

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Dimensional Limit of Italian SMEs

Italian economy experienced two consecutive recessions: a decline in exports between

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From Production-Driven to Market-driven Management

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Districts Resistance to Digital Transformation

In academic literature, two opposing views on the digital transformation effects on

July 27, 2015