This paper provides empirical evidence about differently performing Italian firms, using micro-data drawn from Istat structural business statistics. The analysis performed identifies four groups of firms that follow different strategies in terms of profits and productivity. The first is related to small dimensions, low quality of human capital, investment intensity. The second is mainly associated to sole proprietorships operating in family services. The third is positively associated to higher quality of human capital, investment and debt intensity. The fourth depicts large companies of northern regions involved in scale intensive sectors. Finally, multivariate techniques allow to quantify the impact of some variables on different profiles. [JEL Classification: L21, L25, L26]