What’s next? The national governance and industrial transition scenario for Italian Smes

Scholars (inter alia Van Zeijl-Rozema et al., 2008) regard national governance as a crucial tool for managing transition processes towards sustainable development models. This paper explores how Italian national governance relates to specific industrial transition scenario, with a focus on small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Literature considers social dialogue as an effective governance tool for successful industrial transition (Di Tommaso, 2020; Glass & Newig, 2019; Herman et al., 2017; ILO, 2015; Treu, 2023). Our study explores the agency of the public actor and social partners within the Italian national governance and how they influence transition scenarios for SMEs. To address the research question we have deployed a qualitative method and triangulated main findings with secondary data from official national reports. To better outline industrial transition scenarios we have deployed the four scenarios by the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS). Our results outline a cosmetic governance model characterized by the lack of substantial social dialogue in the formulation and implementation of interventions. The national level is ineffective in managing transition processes leading to dotted transition scenarios for SMEs. In this frame different transition pathways and socio-economic impacts occur depending on the location, sector and business size of SMEs, strengthening territorial inequalities.