We use an innovative survey tool to collect management
practice data from more than 900 medium sized manufacturing
firms across Europe and the US. Our measures of managerial
practices are strongly associated with several measures of firm level
performance. Management practices display significant crosscountry
and within-country differences, with US firms on average
better managed than European firms. Italian firms show a
significant managerial gap vis-à-vis the US, particularly among
Italian companies that are owned and run by families. We
document a positive association between product market
competition and the overall level of skills within the firm. Product
market competition and family-owned, family-run firms account
for 60% of the American managerial advantage over Italians. [JEL
Classification: L2, M2, O32, O33]