Healthware S.p.A. – from an underdeveloped region of Italy – can it be a global firm?

Healthware, a digital communication agency specializing in healthcare, is based in Salerno Italy. The firm has 72 employees in two countries as well as clients in 14 countries. The case illustrates the location trade-offs of operating – and growing – a global digital company far from the epicenter of Italian business. The theme is universal. Once the firm is far from a nation’s epicenter, a dynamism may be absent but the advantages are quite tangible: lower costs and employee stability. This teaching case is based on actual companies, people, and events, though some details have been dramatized or disguised.