Merging Competencies, Valuing Diversity: The Multicultural Enterprise as an Emerging Model

This research, carried out by the University of Parma for IOM Italy, sheds light on the category of multicultural enterprises, which, despite being a spreading phenomenon, still seems to be a neglected topic in the Italian landscape. Such companies feature a culturally mixed management or staff and are the result of a social and economic merging process between cultures. Although not all multicultural enterprises are multicultural for a strategic purpose, those who tap the benefits of cultural diversity show interesting economic and behavioural performances that make them stand out from native or migrant monocultural enterprises. 

The research offers an analysis of the main characteristics of this specific category of enterprises, focusing on the factors that brought to this entrepreneurial set-up and on the challenges encountered by entrepreneurs and managers, eventually analysing how their multicultural background is an added value for their success.