The industrial districts' contribution to change in the Italian economy (original) (raw)

ITALIAN INDUSTRIAL DISTRICTS: A MODEL OF SUCCESS OR A WEAK PRODUCTIVE SYSTEM?

Italian industrial districts: a model of success or a weak productive system? , 2012

The present contribution focuses on two issues. The first one concerns the characteristics of industrial districts and the increasing weight of these districts in the Italian system of production. The second issue is about the competitiveness of the Italian industrial districts, if they represent a model of success or rather a weak system of production. Thus, the transformation of the industrial districts is examined and the strengths and weaknesses are highlighted. One argument that comes out of this investigation is that industrial districts are strongly influenced by institutions, territory, and also by the social and cultural environment. The second argument regards the competitiveness of this Italian industrial development model, based on SMEs, which is founded on the specialization of productions, on innovation and internationalization. The paper argues that this model, which represents the “Made in Italy”, is still a strong and dynamic system which has shown good performances and it represents a paradigm of lasting competitiveness, even if it is restrained by many external chronic constraints.

Italian Industrial Districts: Theories, Profiles and Competitiveness

Management and Organizational Studies, 2017

The paper is a contribution to the debate about the theoretical aspects, the structure, and the competitiveness of Italian industrial districts. The work first examines the theoretical strand on industrial districts ranging from Marshall to Becattini, and focusing on the contemporary distrettualism of Giacomo Becattini, where the district is essentially a socioeconomic construct and an important localized productive system. Furthermore, the paper offers an updated picture of the Italian industrial districts as they are represented in the 2011 Census by the National Statistics Institute. Finally, this study underlines the resilient competitive capacity of this typical form of industrial organization. Then, through empirical literature, it analyzes the Italian district companies, and their performance and success in foreign markets, especially with regard to " Made in Italy " products.

Towards a History of the Italian Industrial Districts from the End of World War II to the Nineties

2014

When did the first Italian industrial districts spring up? In which regions have they developed, and over what times, in the forty years of republican Italy from the end of World War II to the nineties? How do districts develop? How do they change their shape in time? By using for the first time comparable census data from 1951 to 1991 and with reference to the main existing literature on the subject, we try to answer these questions and to trace a history of the Italian industrial districts. In the discussion, we enquire into how the importance and role of the districts vary over time, and we attempt to assess their prevailing working conditions, their efficiency and their ability to face up to international competition.

Structural Changes and the Role of Districts in the Development of the Italian Food Industry

Wageningen UR Frontis Series, 2008

The rapid economic and social development of Italy in the postwar period attracted the attention of many researchers and has been studied using different analytical approaches. Traditional dualistic analyses were used during the 1950s and 1960s (North-South, large-small firms, traditional-modern sectors) to explain the profound differences existing within the Italian industrialisation process (Valli, 2005). In the 1980s, analyses of Italian economic development emphasised the presence of different regional patterns of development. The relevance of geographical agglomeration and specialisation of independent SMEs was underlined by the pioneering work carried out by Becattini (1987, 1989) influenced by his renewed interest in Marshall's analysis of industrial districts and external economies. Numerous studies stressed the new role and the different pattern of development of SMEs belonging to certain districts with respect to big enterprises, on the one hand, and isolated SMEs, on the other. Subsequently, the Industrial Districts (IDs) approach became an important tool with which to analyse the roles of SMEs on the remarkable economic performance of Italy over the last decades (

Industrial Districts and the Collapse of the Marshallian Model: Looking at the Italian Experience

Competition & Change, 2014

In the last 15 years, Italy's industrial districts (IDs) have been undergoing profound changes. Based on a number of empirical studies, this article analyzes several phenomena now amply evident in Italian IDs, including globalization and its effects on the firm population of each district and its fabric of interorganizational relationships; the impact of immigration on how the social structure and the production structure mutually interpenetrate; the shrinking reproducibility of the entrepreneurial factor; the diversification of the local production structure; an increased concentration of the turnover and workforce within the districts; and a weakening of the fabric of relations between enterprises. The combined effect of these phenomena has been to dismantle the Marshallian model that once characterized the majority of Italian IDs. Given this picture, the article focuses on the directions now being taken by these districts. By systematizing evidence emerging from existing stud...

New experiences of industrial districts in Southern Italian regions: a critical review

2000

Recent studies have provided evidence of successful stories of clustered firms in the South of Italy. We intend firstly to review the theoretical approaches that interpreted this new reality. While producing interest cases studies traditional approaches still try to employ the industrial district ideal type model. We look at their findings, in the light of the most recent debate on

Marshallian Industrial Districts in Italy: the end of a model or adaptation to the global economy?

Cambridge Journal of Economics

This paper discusses the Marshallian Industrial District as it was rediscovered and further developed by Italian economists before tracing the main changes in the market and institutional context in the wake of globalization. It then focuses on some of the main transformations that have taken place in the Italian districts since the 1990s. After highlighting the important role still played by the districts in the Italian economy, the paper develops a framework for the evolutionary processes of the Marshallian Industrial District that would allow reproduction of the district in a manner suited to the era of globalisation.