In June 2003, following a community call for tender, the Directorate General for EU Structural Funds Policies of the Department for Development and Cohesion Policies assigned to the companies GPF&Associati and ISPO the implementation of a four-year-long survey (2003-2006) entitled "La percezione e l'immagine della realtà delle regioni del Sud Italia presso la business community e la popolazione del Centro Nord Italia e di 10 Paesi stranieri" (The perception and image of Southern Italy by the business Communities of Northern Italy and of 10 foreign countries), i.e. France, Germany, United Kingdom, Sweden, Russia, Japan, Singapor, Egypt, Brasil and United States.
Main intent of the Department was to collect information on:
- the extent of knowledge on Southern Italy;
- expectations and attitudes developed towards three main issues: foreign investments in the South of Italy, exports from the South, tourist-attraction capacity of the South;
- main indicators revealing the image of Southern Italy;
- judgement vehicles and corresponding value.
The four-year-long survey was developed through a series of research activities, such as:
in 2003 a large number of phone as well as face-to-face interviews were carried on with:
- over 12,000 representatives of the business communities of Northern Italy and of the 10 foreign countries mentioned above (contacted through phone interviews),
- a representative sample of 11,000 citizens of the 10 foreign countries (contacted through phone interviews),
- 21 opinion leaders from Northern Italy and 22 opinion leaders from the 10 foreign countries (contacted through face-to-face interviews),
- 100 entrepreneurs, economists and financial experts from 8 Italian Southern Regions to assess their self- perception (contacted through face-to-face interviews);
in 2004 and in 2005 phone-interviews contacted representatives of the business communities of Northern Italy and of the 10 foreign countries (using the same questionnaire of 2003 but on different samples) to identify opinion trends;
in 2006 phone-interviews will target the representatives of the business community from the 10 foreign countries and Northern Italy as well as a sample of their citizens.
At the end of the first year of survey GPF&Associati and ISPO edited 11 survey reports gathering the quantitative data from each foreign country and Northern Italy, accompanied by some synthesis and benchmarking reports. A further extra survey was also implemented on the business community of China, not repeated in the following years.
Report - Business community and Population of Brasil (pdf, 542 kb)
Report - Business community and Population of the Centre and North of Italy (pdf, 455 kb)
Report - Business community and Population of Egypt (pdf, 507 kb)
Report - Business community and Population France (pdf, 563 kb)
Report - Business community and Population Germany (pdf, 561 kb)
Report - Business community and Population Japan (pdf, 553 kb)
Report - Business community and Population United Kingdom (pdf, 558 kb)
Report - Business community and Population Russia (pdf, 544 kb)
Report - Business community and Population Singapor (pdf, 538 kb)
Report - Business community and Population United States (pdf, 555 kb)
Report - Business community and Population Sweden (pdf, 560 kb)
Report of synthesis - Business community and Population in 10 foreign countries and in the Centre and North of Italy (pdf, 777 kb)
Comparative Report - Business community and Population in 10 foreign countries and in the Centre and North of Italy (pdf, 187 kb)
Cause Analisys - Business community of 10 foreign countries and Central-Northern Italy (pdf, 141 kb)
Information sources (pdf, 766 kb)
Report Business community of China (pdf, 243 kb)
The international image of Italy’s Southern Regions
