Characteristics and Business Models of the Italian Cosmetics Industry:An Exploratory Analysis

The aim of this paper is to develop an understanding of the characteristics of the Italian cosmetics industry with an emphasis on the Business Models utilized by cosmetic manufacturers. This empirical study includes a survey of cosmetics firms which was conducted in order to construct an accurate profile of the Italian cosmetics industry. The results show that the Italian cosmetics industry has characteristics which are consistent with science-based and traditional sectors. In particular, we group Italian cosmetics companies by structural, strategic, technological, and marketing variables. This grouping results in the identification of three clusters which are associated with different levels of economic and innovative performance.