Industrial districts in a globalizing world: A model to change or a model of change? (original) (raw)
Related papers
2009
Industrial districts – and especially industrial districts in Italy – have been put forth as a model of economic development premised on the deep rooting of firms in a local socio-economic system that is both rich in skills and tied into international flows of goods and knowledge. But there is also a sense today that those districts are in transformation, that globalization has put them “on the move.” This has led some to question whether a model that is becoming many models can still in fact be a model. In this paper, we use a study of the Modenese mechanical district – an archetypical industrial district – to examine this “movement.” We argue that when properly understood the Italian districts do still offer lessons that are generalizable to other regional economies. We show that the district in question is changing, and show in particular that there has been a rise to prominence in the district of relatively small multinational firms. These are changes that are not atypical of in...
INDUSTRIAL DISTRICTS AS LOCAL SYSTEMS OF INNOVATION
2007
This essay examines the situation and the lines of development of industrial districts from the point of view of local systems of innovation. First of all, this article points out to the modernity factors of the district model -which are ascribable to the supply chain economy, to entrepreneurial dynamics and to the importance of geography as a competitive resourcethrough the analysis of recent contributions of economic literature that examined the emerging organizational models in knowledge economy. Secondly, the outcomes of recent research on leading companies of Italian industrial districts will be presented, looking at three particularly topics of ongoing changes: the process of international opening of the value chain, the technological conditions of competitive advantage, the relationship between strategies and economic performance. Finally, some considerations on the issue of policies will be developed. Such considerations underline the need to re-think the traditional models of local governance of development and suggest to look at the new external district economies, based on service economies, on much more considerable investments in training, technological and cultural activities and, finally, on more aware institutional actions with reference to the association of companies in innovation projects.
Industrial Districts and Large Firms: The Stubborn Persistence of a ‘Weak’ Productive Model
A Handbook of Industrial Districts
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.
District leaders as open networks: emerging business strategies in Italian industrial districts
2007
Italian industrial districts are no longer self-contained systems of small firms, where firms' competitiveness is the result of physical proximity and links with global economy are limited to export sales. A new generation of firms is taking the lead, reshaping the form of districts through their innovative strategies focused on R&D, design and ICT. Most of these firms are leaders within their markets and organize their value chains by coupling district knowledge and competencies with opportunities offered by globalization processes. The rise of these open networks contributes to the transformation of industrial districts and the real drivers of the district firm's competitiveness. Based on a survey of 650 Italian SMEs from 41 Italian districts, the paper describes the characteristics of this new firm model, compared to the traditional district one. The paper also discusses implications for districts in terms of innovation dynamics and governance.
This article analyzes the current situation and likely future course of Italy's production districts from the standpoint of local innovation systems. The authors highlight the modern elements present in the district formula -the product chain, dynamic entrepreneurship, the importance of the local territory as a competitive resource -through the examination of some recent scholarly contributions on emerging forms of organization within the knowledge economy. They also present the results of recent studies of leader firms in the main Italian industrial districts, looking at three especially important aspects of the transformation that is under way: the international opening of the value chain, the technological conditions of competitive advantage, and the relationship between strategy and economic performance. Finally, they offer several policy considerations, stressing the need to rethink the traditional ideas on local governance of development and to consider the new external economies of the districts based on services, on much greater investment in training, education and technology and on better-designed government action to involve firms in innovation projects.
Economia e Politica Industriale
This paper considers the role of cooperation and competition in production and exchange-and the ''district'' form of industrial organization and development. It examines Alfred Marshall's theory of industrial districts-localized groups of small firms and their suppliers that were at the heart of Britain's industrial development. However, with the emergence and growth of very large and successful vertically integrated firms-and as the conventional wisdom evolved to view large size as the next stage in industrial evolution-the small firm sector was progressively marginalized. In this process, Marshall's dynamic and evolutionary approach to industrial organization was abandoned. However, the discovery of competitively successful agglomerations of small firms in Italy during the 1960s served as the motivation for construction of a new theory of the ''Marshallian'' industrial district, pioneered by Giacomo Becattini and Sebastiano Brusco. The success of these modern industrial districts in securing inter-firm cooperation and channelling their joint efforts towards quality upgrading and product and process innovation, at a time when large firms and the ''Fordist'' mass production model were generally in decline, brought them to the attention of the international research and policy community. Since then, the literature on this form of industrial organization has proliferated; and Marshall's methodology and theory has proven remarkably resilient in explaining the dynamic, non-equilibrium processes involved in their development, evolution and performance over time.
Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 1995
New industrial districts occur in a number of forms, some of which are not subsumable under the flexibly specialized, locally embedded, and endogenously driven model based on the Italian case. In this paper, we critique the industrial districts literature, focusing on the role of the state, interdistrict mobility of labor, nonlocal externalities, and non-place embeddedness in district formation and character. We introduce the notion of the satellite industrial district, comprised of branch operations of nonlocally based corporations, as an example of a rapidly growing industrial district distinct from Marshallian and Italianate forms, and argue with evidence from South Korea that these types of districts may predominate, especially in developing countries.
Three Generations of Industrial districts
Investigaciones Regionales - Journal of Regional Research, 2015
The paper presents a theoretical framework for understanding the evolution of industrial districts from Marshall’s conceptualisation to today’s realities and theorisations of the industrial district as model of industrial organization and development. We discuss three generation of industrial districts: the first generations of districts were the seedbeds for the first industrial revolution. The second generations corresponded to the re-emergence of industrial districts in advanced and industrialised countries during the second half of the twentieth century, after the golden age of mass production. The current and third generation is being revealed resorting to scholarly observation. We will argue that each generation of industrial districts have emerged and grown in correspondence with specific technological, institutional and market conditions. Some evidence from the Italian case is presented.
Rethinking the industrial district: 35 years later
Investigaciones Regionales - Journal of Regional Research, 2015
The year 2014 marked a double anniversary: the 35th and 25th anniversaries of the publication of two seminal papers of Giacomo Becattini on the industrial district. The first paper (Becattini, 1979) conceptualizes the industrial district as a «unit of investigation», while the second (Becattini, 1989) conceptualizes the industrial district as a «model of production». Between the two papers there is a mutual dependence. The industrial district as a «model of production» deprived of the industrial district as a «unit of investigation» loses its originality as a way of interpreting economic change and becomes merely «one type of a cluster». This paper deals with the relationship between district and cluster, then also between the industrial district as a singular theoretical construct and the many industrial districts described by empirical investigations, and concludes with some remarks on the topicality of the industrial district.
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.