The Importance of Being Network

Sinermatic is a network of suppliers in the «Emilian Packaging Valley». It started with ima Group (client and world-leading company) buying minor shares of some of its key suppliers. The network experienced tremendous growth since 2009 and was recently claimed as a «new business model in automation». This paper set up an unorthodox empirical exercise to investigate such a claim. Testing how a subgroup of members performed after affiliating, we found some significant evidence that Sinermatic grew and profited more than counterfactual firms. Accordingly, we recommend favouring supply chain integration in policy design, yet paying attention to firms’ readiness and network-specific arrangements.