In the 2000-2006 period, radical changes in economic geography driven by “global” trends obliged entrepreneurs to greatly vary their business strategies and choices. The purpose of this study is to analyse the “micro” factors which have had deeper impact on entrepreneurial behaviour and the diversified repercussion of these at the regional scale. Based on an econometric exercise, the study aims to identify: i) the competitive advantages associated with the relatively more successful enterprises in growth performance; ii) whether these cases are characterised by aspects of continuity/discontinuity with respect to the “traditional” Italian industrial specialisation model; and iii) how such behaviour has distributed across the territorial segments of the country. The paper concludes by reflecting on the uneven distribution in the innovative exploitation of factors capable of spurring higher growth performances in the different territorial contexts.