Some time ago, the web portal “Trevisosystem” published a series of articles on Treviso attractiveness within the column “Il Punto”: the ability to attract human, economic and financial resources from outside, particularly from abroad, analyzed in relation to the economic and production system; moreover, the competence to valorize human resources by enhancing human and financial capital within the area.
Articles were lately updated and integrated, and are here presented altogether in the new section “Invest in Treviso”, which is intended to be a tool of knowledge and guide for both the external investor and the local professionals and specialists in economy, in order to create networks with Treviso economy. Moreover, the specified elements of evaluation may represent a motivating force in order to strengthen and enhance internal resources.
We will not deal with social elements in this occasion, since the portal and the column are mainly addressed to economic operators. We, however, recognize they represent aspects of the quality of life offered by the territory, and may therefore be considered as additional items of attractiveness for external readers.
Furthermore, neither legal nor normative aspects are taken into consideration, as they refer to the Italian jurisdiction (or, at most, the regional one) and therefore can not be modified at a local level.
1.1 The attractiveness of a territory
First of all, “the attractiveness could be defined as the ability to attract, valorize and hold resources and key competences” [1] and it may be divided according to its objective (that is, detected by appropriate markers) and subjective (as the territory is perceived) dimensions.
The attractiveness of a territory is complementary to its competitiveness, since human, financial and technological resources are disposed to choose a certain territory for their activities on basis of its competitiveness; in other words, it should have the ability to outline or at least assure future economic and/or social advantages that are consistent with the resources involved, and it must do that significantly better than other territories.
Obviously, attractiveness and competitiveness are also connected with locational advantage, which is the area’s ability to pursue, preserve and improve its specific role through an effective and creative development of resources.
Policies of development and territorial marketing are needed in order to enhance the attractiveness, competitiveness and locational advantage of a territory. From the economic point of view, development helps increasing the value of product and aggregate income, and territorial marketing is useful to boost economic, commercial and relational exchanges inside and outside the cited territory.
1.2 Factors that foster territorial attractiveness
Attractiveness, competitiveness and locational advantage are determined or furthered by the presence of some factors and by the way in which these factors combine in a given territory. From the economic point of view, they can gather in two distinctive classes:
In case these factors should be deficient or should not cause enough attractiveness in interacting with one another, it will be necessary to revitalize them by prompting appropriate policies of development and territorial marketing.
Among context factors, we can mention [2]:
In other provinces, many surveys on the quality of life make use of these standards as well as some others that are mainly social-related [3] , while in the field of internationalization policies more factors are considered in addition, such as immigration, labour force skills, the size of internationalized and non-internationalized businesses, etc. [4] .
The factors related to sectoral structure, on the other hand, depend on the territory’s sectoral specialization, which lays the foundations for the enhancement of attractiveness, because it determines the presence of [5] :
The new investments that are proposed or attracted by the presence of the above-cited elements have by some means a connection with the specialized sector, and consequently they set the stage for further developments working synergistically and more effectively.
[1] See Antonio Martelli, “Attrattività di sistema e fattori geografici: riflessioni su un dibattito in
corso” in “L’attrattività del sistema Paese”, by Paola Dubini, Il Sole 24 Ore, Milano, 2006.
[2] The listed factors were pointed out by Paola Dubini in “La valutazione dell’attrattività del Sistema Paese”, an essay inside the book cited in footnote [1].
[3] In relation to this, consult the annual surveys by the economic newspapers “Il Sole-24 Ore” and
“Italia Oggi”.
[4] On this subject, consult the publication by FORMEZ and the Dipartimento della Funzione Pubblicaentitled “L’attrattività dei territori nelle politiche di internazionalizzazione”, 2004.
[5] On this topic, read the essay “La distribuzione territoriale dei settori” by Elisa
Bianchi and Lanfranco Senn, which can be found within the publication cited in footnote [1].
