Today one tenth of it has to do with natural resources, and one half of it with services. They enable companies to focus on what they do best and to do it in international partnership with others. In short, now that they can communicate so easily, international orchestras of specialists make better music than national one-man bands. Look at Daimler Benz. Companies are contracting out for many services, reducing core employment.
State industries face an identity crisis.
Watch Air France wrestling with this. Sub-national centres of particular excellence can still thrive. Silicon Valley is another famous one. The City of London is clearly one. Such communities are a particular feature of Italian industry.