Industrial Districts Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

According to our interpretation, modern trade fairs started in Europe during the First World War and in its immediate aftermath. With the closing of trade movements during the war, many cities had to resort to the old medieval tradition of providing especial permits to traders to guarantee them personal protection during their trade meetings. During the tough post war crisis many more cities –typically industrial districts-discovered in the creation of trade fairs a powerful competitive tool to attract market transactions. We compare these developments with the remote origins of fairs, as, in both cases, trade fair development is a reaction to the closing of free markets under the pressure of political violence.

- by
- •
- International Trade, Markets, First World War, Industrial Districts

Il presente lavoro costituisce il primo risultato di un progetto di ricerca sull'attività di esportazione delle imprese orafe artigiane. Il paper presenta nella prima parte la metodologia d'indagine seguita dal Ceris nell'analisi dei settori della cosiddetta Italia competitiva, di quei settori cioè, spesso etichettati come tradizionali, che principalmente sostengono la bilancia commerciale italiana. Sono presi in considerazione le caratteristiche, i punti di forza e di debolezza e le attuali sfide competitive per tali settori e in particolare per il settore orafo. Nella seconda parte è riportata un'analisi sintetica del commercio internazionale nel settore orafo, mostrandone la rilevanza per lo sviluppo settoriale successivo, la dinamica nel tempo, la localizzazione geografica. [This paper is the first result of a research project, which is in progress at present, on the export activity of goldsmith craftsman firms in Italy. It shows, in the first part, the research methodology followed by Ceris research unit to analyse the industries of competitive Italy, that are those industries often labelled as traditional that most sustain Italian commercial balance. Characteristics, point of strength and weakness and competitive challenges for those industries and for the goldsmith industry in particular are considered. In the second part of the paper a synthetic analysis of international trade of the Italian goldsmith industry is presented. The relevance of exports for the development of the industry is shown and a description of time tendencies and geographical destination is given.]

- by Elena Ragazzi
- •
- Industrial Districts, Exports

The presence of foreign activities in a host country, by means of cooperation agreements and outward foreign investments, can induce positive and negative effects. These effects are closely related to the typology of the foreign activities, to the interactions between foreign and local firms and to the development of the host country. By focusing on the textile-clothing agglomeration in Timişoara, in Central Eastern Europe, the present paper aims to investigate whether the Italian Ilaria Mariotti, Simona Montagnana -Italian Investments In The Agglomeration Of Timisoara In Romania: Threat Or Opportunity For The Economic Development? 34 presence in the agglomeration represents an opportunity (development path) or a threat (dependent path) to foster the socio-economic development of the area. To achieve this goal a micro-level investigation on a sample of 90 firms, both Italian and Romanian, located in Timisoara is described and the results of the factor and cluster analyses are presented.

— Klang Valley, a heavily industrialized urban area in Malaysia, has experienced severe haze episodes since the early 1980s. Total Suspended Particulate matter (TSP) is used in studying this phenomenon. Three severe haze episodes during the early 1990s are reviewed; August 1990, October 1991, and August–October 1994. The nature of these episodes, their possible causes, and their major features are discussed. Meteorological conditions associated with these episodes were analyzed. Results of the study indicate that stability and trapping of particles are the main factors affecting the pollution during haze periods. Maximum total suspended matter (TSP) was recorded in October 1991. The August–October 1994 episode was the most persistent and least affected by meteorological variables. Analysis of wind direction data showed that southerly and southwesterly winds coincided with the worst haze periods.

- by Mazlan Othman
- •
- Geophysics, Air Quality, Wind Energy, Malaysia

The major aim of this paper is to analyse how Internet can impact on knowledge transfer in Industrial Districts (IDs). In order to achieve this goal after the description of principal IDs characteristics and of the knowledge transfer process in IDs we summarise the degree of adoption of Internet technologies in Italian IDs and finally we transpose the knowledge transfer model in the web scenario. In the conclusions we highlight the main causes of resistance to the adoption of Internet in IDs.

- by Roberto Dandi and +1
- •
- Computer Mediated Communication, Knowledge Transfer, Industrial Districts, Social Context

"The paper aims to recover the historical and conceptual roots and origins of creativity in the arts and crafts field, so to contribute to contextualizing the current debate on creative industries and territories.
To this purpose, a theoretical discussion of three of the main tensions and dialectics underlying the creative process (aesthetics vs functionality; codified vs tacit knowledge; innovation vs tradition) is provided through an inter-disciplinary review of literature.
The second section of the paper proposes an interpretation of these dialectics in the context of Italian industrial districts specialized in the so-called 'Made in Italy' industries, which are located across the arts/crafts and technological domains. The reflections contribute to widening the debate on topical in economic geography and innovation, such as the relationship between functional and aesthetic innovation, the channels of knowledge transmission in localized learning processes and the nature of innovation in industrial clusters-districts"

- by Andrea Sartori
- •
- Design, Creativity, Intangible Cultural Heritage (Culture), Industrial Districts
- by Giuseppe Calignano
- •
- Resilience, Italy, Industrial Districts, Marche

In un periodo di rinascita dell’economia urbana, legata all’innovazione e all’economia della conoscenza, il concetto di
“distretto produttivo” viene recuperato e reinterpretato a livello internazionale per l’integrazione economia-società o
sotto forma di “cluster tecnologico”, mentre in Italia ci si interroga sulla capacità di tenuta di questo modello
organizzativo in un panorama economico mondiale profondamente mutato.
Lo studio dell’evoluzione dei “distretti produttivi”, nel tempo e nello spazio, sembra intercettare alcune questioni
rilevanti per la disciplina urbanistica. Da un lato, l’osservazione dei territori della manifattura consente di leggere la
“metamorfosi” delle imprese – che diventano sempre più grandi, innovative e internazionalizzate – e degli spazi della
produzione, il cui uso plurale va dalla dismissione alla riqualificazione. Dall’altro, l’economia dei flussi impone una
riflessione sull’ibridazione di manifattura e servizi e sul conseguente avvicinamento di attività, spazi e stili di vita
urbani e “periferici” nella nozione di “sistema metropolitano”.

- by Cristiana Mattioli
- •
- Urban Planning, Local Development, Urban Transformation, Industrial Districts

What happens when market crisis and neoliberal reorganization hit a local industrial district, renowned for its social and political cohesion? This chapter is based on a diachronic perspective and interviews with entrepreneurs, workers, trade unionists and institutional representatives of the Valdelsa district between Florence and Siena. It examines the radically diverging local interpretations of the crisis of the furniture industries during the Nineteen-eighties and the recent market crisis of chassis for motorized caravans. A comparison of the two crises, considering also the “colonization” of the district by multinational companies, reveals a process of dis-embeddedness of the socio-political dimensions, resulting in a more hierarchical structure of what was once considered a model of socially integrated capitalism.

- by Francesco Zanotelli
- •
- Economic Anthropology, Neoliberalism, Pierre Bourdieu, Anthropology of Work

The paper aims to study the process of transformation undergone by the industrial district in Sassuolo, where the increased relevance of the logistic function may enable the creation of an international hub specialized in the construction sector.
The articulation and the internationalization of the production demand a complex and innovative logistic system, which involves several actors and resources.
The local logistic service providers play a crucial role in this system as the firms delegate the outbound transport directly to clients. Besides transport service, they deal with the pick up and storage of products, for foreign auto carriers and factories too. As a matter of fact, the import of foreign products is increasing due to international industrial exchanges and the purchase of low cost products. On one hand, foreign companies localize their branches in the district, taking advantage of the high and frequent volumes of goods moved by local LSP. On the other hand, in order to reduce internal costs, firms are more and more engaged in the efficient management of the stocks, which requires investments in qualified and advanced spaces.
The transformations studied here reveal high volumes of internal movements, while existing means of transportation, such as train, seem to be underused. For these reasons, if a development of the logistics can be prefigured, the paper proposes to ameliorate the local network and to facilitate strategies of collaborative and rational management of inbound and outbound flows.

- by Ramon Muñoz
- •
- Economic History, Southern Europe, Industrial Economics, Business History

El negocio corchero extremeño ha tendido a aglomerarse en torno a la localidad pacense de San Vicente de Alcántara (Badajoz). En este estudio nos proponemos como objetivo principal analizar el proceso histórico que ha seguido esta aglomeración industrial corchera desde la perspectiva de las aglomeraciones industriales, y más concretamente apoyándonos en las teorías del ciclo de vida de las aglomeraciones. El objetivo es comprobar si se han cumplido en el seno de esta aglomeración los factores y condicionantes que ha marcado la teoría. De forma transversal queremos conocer cuál es el estado actual de la aglomeración y como está se encuentra iniciando una fase de declive marcar las posibles soluciones para revertir esta situación habida cuenta de que no se trata de una fase de declive del sector a nivel global.

The principal aim of this paper was to examine the internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in regard to the entry mode selection process. To successfully accomplish this, a resource-based view model was used to investigate the primary factors influencing a SMEs’ international entry mode. Data was obtained during direct interviews with owners/managers of SMEs in Italy. The results revealed that entry mode decisions were primarily influenced by firm specific factors, above all organizational culture. The study also illustrated that SMEs were not influenced by their belonging to an industrial district.

Los países del sur de Europa, con Italia y España a la cabeza, se sitúan entre los princi- pales exportadores mundiales de calzado y esta industria ocupa una posición importante en sus economías, principalmente por el volumen de empleo que genera, con más de 100.000 trabajadores directos en el sector en Italia y más de 46.000 en España, y por el valor de sus exportaciones, que representa cerca del 3 por ciento del valor total de las exportaciones italia- nas y en torno a la mitad de dicho porcentaje en España. En este artículo se revisa la evolución de la industria del calzado en ambos países en el largo plazo, hasta el presente, y se analiza cómo la concentración del sector en un conjunto de distritos industriales fuertemente especia- lizados ha contribuido históricamente a su competitividad internacional.

- by José Antonio Miranda Encarnación
- •
- Economic History, Business History, Spain, Italy

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the industrial district of the North Staffordshire Potteries dominated the British earthenware industry, producing local goods that sold in global markets. Over this time the region experienced consistent growth in output, an extreme spatial concentration of physical and human capital, and became home to some of the most famous Master Potters in the world. The Potteries was also characterised by a growing body of useful and practical knowledge about the materials, processes and skills required to produce world-leading earthenware. This thesis exploits this striking example of a highly concentrated and highly skilled craft-based industry during a period of sustained growth and development which offers a rich opportunity to contribute to several strands of economic and business history. This thesis presents and analyses new empirical evidence based on trade directories to examine the organisational evolution of the district. It reconstructs the district at the firm level, showing that the region’s growth was incredibly dynamic. The spatial concentration of producers and the importance of social and business networks are also explored through a new map of the region in 1802 and social network analysis.
As a study of a craft-based, highly skilled industry without a legacy of formal institutions such as guilds to govern and protect access to knowledge, this thesis also offers substantial empirical and historiographical contributions to the study of knowledge and innovation during the period of the Industrial Revolution. It presents a new database of pottery patents alongside a variety of qualitative evidence such as trade literature, exhibition catalogues, advertisements and sales catalogues. Quantitative and qualitative analysis reveals the low propensity to patent in the North Staffordshire pottery industry, and provides a new typology of knowledge used in the industry. It argues that the types of knowledge being created and disseminated influenced the behaviour of producers substantially, and this typology of knowledge is far more complex than those established tacit/explicit divisions favoured in historical study and the social sciences more broadly.
The findings of this thesis allow us to answer numerous outstanding questions concerning the development of the North Staffordshire Potteries during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. When brought together in such a way, the complementary strands of research and findings presented offer a coherent narrative of an extremely complex and dynamic cluster of production that both challenges and confirms traditional historiographical tradition concerning industrial districts.

- by Giulia Marconi
- •
- Economics, Industrial Districts

La cerámica, por sus cualidades estéticas y funcionales, se utiliza en muchos ámbitos de la vida. Uno de los usos más populares, y con extensa tradición, es el empleo como baldosas para
revestir suelos y paredes. Según la Asociación Española de Fabricantes de Azulejos, Pavimentos y Baldosas Cerámicas [ASCER, 2003], España sigue siendo el país con mayor consumo per cápita [8,2 m2/h], seguido de cerca por Portugal [6,9 m2/h] y a más distancia por Arabia Saudita [3,6 m2/h] e Italia [3,2 m2/h]. Además, desde el año 2002 España es el primer productor en metros cuadrados de baldosa cerámica de la UE, tras haber superado a Italia. Sin embargo en facturación, al tener Italia
precios más elevados en sus productos, supera a España y lidera aún el mercado de la UE. Ambos países se sitúan tras China, aunque a una notable distancia, como los primeros productores mundiales.
En la Comunidad Valenciana se concentra el 92% de los ingresos de explotación de las empresas españolas de este sector, el 90% de los empleados y aproximadamente los dos tercios
de las empresas, así como un alto porcentaje de las empresas que realizan innovación tecnológica. Se trata de un sector intensivo en capital y que muestra un elevado dinamismo en la aparición
de avances tecnológicos que incorporan mejoras en el proceso de producción o en la calidad de los productos. En los últimos tiempos, dada la capacidad de producción existente, estos
avances han buscado mejorar el proceso de producción, ahorros energéticos [como la cogeneración] o reducir el impacto medioambiental, más que conseguir incrementos en la producción.
Así mismo se intenta encontrar nuevas utilidades a la cerámica, tanto en el interior de la vivienda como en el exterior e incluso otros usos industriales.
El sector de pavimentos y revestimientos cerámicos presenta una fuerte dependencia del sector de la construcción, por lo que la evolución cíclica del sector de la construcción se traslada
al sector cerámico. En los últimos años, este sector ha mostrado una atenuación en su ritmo de crecimiento en consonancia con la desaceleración económica mundial.
El presente trabajo pretende realizar un análisis de la situación actual del sector de pavimentos y revestimientos cerámicos de la Comunidad Valenciana, su sistema sectorial de innovación
y una comparación entre las fortalezas y debilidades del sector cerámico de Castellón [España] frente al de Emilia Romagna [Italia], que son las regiones en las que se sitúan los distritos cerámicos más importantes de ambos países. Para ello, en la primera parte del estudio se define el contexto del sector a través de las magnitudes socioeconómicas a nivel mundial, europeo, nacional y de la Comunidad Valenciana. La segunda parte del trabajo se centra en el análisis del esfuerzo innovador que realizan las empresas del sector en la Comunidad Valenciana, para continuar en la tercera parte con el estudio del sistema sectorial de innovación. La cuarta parte del trabajo analiza el sector cerámico en Emilia Romagna [Italia] y para finalizar se exponen las conclusiones.

- by Daniel Gabaldón-Estevan
- •
- Industrial Districts

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.

- by Eric Häusler
- •
- Economic History, Swiss History, History of Embroidery, Industrial Districts

This paper aims to explore the evolutionary dynamics of the ODM model in the global notebook PC industry. We found that the “modular design” process of notebook products requires plenty of technical interaction and tacit knowledge exchanges among branding companies, key component suppliers and ODMs. Taiwanese ODMs serve as important sources of information and knowledge for specifications formulation through their system integration and technological development abilities. With increasing complexity and shorter design life-spans, the mutual dependency among the lead firms and ODMs increases, leading to the regional agglomeration in Taiwan and China.

- by Erdal Akdeve
- •
- Industrial Districts, Industrial Clusters, Defence and Strategic Studies, Cluster

Rooted in the territorial approach, this theoretical paper offers a systematic literature review (SLR) of ecosystems based on a selection of 104 articles and books and their archetypes. First, we identify and discuss the four main types of ecosystems – business, innovation, entrepreneurial, and knowledge ecosystems – and indicate the presence of other transversal concepts. Second, we provide an overview of related and well-established theories from the territorial approach that have been largely omitted although they are ecosystem archetypes. Third, we identify the invariants across the four diverging streams from the ecosystem approach and the seven diverging streams from the territorial approach. Finally, we propose a research framework based on the comparison between key invariants from both approaches and discuss their similarities and differences that could serve as a foundation for future empirical research. This study therefore links the ecosystem and territorial approaches under the complex evolutionary system umbrella by creating a theoretical framework that reflects the complex interconnection between models, theories, and emerging concepts.

- by Giovanni Carrosio
- •
- Renewable Energy, Industrial Districts

Il capitolo ricostruisce l’evoluzione per settori dell’industria manifatturiera in Italia, approssimativamente dall’Unificazione ai nostri giorni, attraverso le vicende delle imprese ritenute di volta in volta più significative. I diversi regimi tecnologici e il contesto politico-economico di riferimento rappresentano le impalcature essenziali del tessuto narrativo, che vuole essere di tipo preminentemente qualitativo (per quel che concerne gli aspetti micro-economici: i casi di impresa), ma con attenzione agli aspetti quantitativi essenziali (l’evoluzione nell’aggregato dei settori). L’ambizione è riuscire a dare conto della multidimensionalità dell’eccellenza italiana, pur senza celare le aree di criticità. La linea interpretativa si incentra sul binomio «permanenze» e «discontinuità»: le prime si fondano essenzialmente sulla dotazione strutturale del Paese, mentre le discontinuità rappresentano la capacità di cogliere le opportunità offerte dal mutamento delle condizioni internazionali e dal progresso tecnico.

- by Thierry Maillet
- •
- Fashion History, Industrial Districts, Fashion,textile and clothing

The purpose of this doctoral thesis is to raise an analytical proposal in which the Marshallian industrial districts perspective and the innovation systems perspective can converge. The objective is justified because of the potential limitations of the district concept to capture and explain the innovative processes that happen inside it but, at the same time, the unique specificities that characterise and differentiate an industrial district from other levels of analysis.
Accordingly, the theoretical part deals with the relevant characteristics of each of the two perspectives considered and based on their resemblances and complementarities the notion of distritual innovation system has been proposed. Thus, the distritual innovation system appears as a concept that emphasizes the relevance of the territory, when an industry adopts the district form, but is also highly dependent on other elements of the innovation system.
In order to assess the appropriateness of this combined proposal the empirical part has focussed on the characterisation of the distritual innovation system of the tile in Castellón. To do it we combine different analysis that includes: the description of the value chain, mapping the innovation system, highlighting the functions that the system requires should be fulfilled, and analyzing the interaction between the different elements through research contracts and patents. By combining the aforementioned analysis we show the constraints, inertias, challenges and opportunities that the distritual innovation system faces while showing the utility of this analytical proposal.
The main conclusion from our research is that specific characteristics of the inter-organizational environments in the industrial district have to be considered for a correct systemic analysis of the innovation process. The implications for the ceramic tile producers can be, on the one hand, a certain degree of homogeneity, and on the other, the need to access district external suppliers to permit a certain degree of differentiation with respect to the rest of the local competitors.

This paper deals with the contribution of industrial districts and clusters to the creation of
competitive advantage in industry. It is divided into two well-‐differentiated parts. The first one provides an interpretative summary of key issues in the analysis of the geographic concentration of industry. In particular, some of the main interpretations and debates on the causes and characteristics of this concentration are presented. Additionally, it pays particular attention to the ongoing debate about the role of external economies (i.e. the externalities of industrial concentration) and internal economies (i.e. the strategies and capabilities of medium-‐large firms) in the competitiveness of districts and clusters. The second part of the paper reviews some recent studies, mostly focused on nineteenth-‐ and twentieth-‐century Spain. This review, which includes historical analyses of districts, clusters and industries with export capacity, is undertaken in the light of the discussion in the first part of this study. An interesting conclusion that emerges from the studies reviewed is that in Southern Europe the competitive advantage of the geographically
concentrated industry appears to have been associated more with hub-‐firm clusters than with neo-‐Marshallian districts.

IN SEARCH OF ENTREPRENEURIAL EXCELLENCE In this book we try to answer some critical questions: What are the strategies of the best companies that develop sustainable strategies with a long-term background orientation? What is the difference of values, culture, value system in a long-term sustainable strategy? The book answers these questions and develops a new original model based on an empirical case. In an ever-changing environmental context, there is an increasing need for advanced tools to understand and identify the determinants of strategic development and value creation of companies. Particular interest is to ask oneself about some questions. What is the experience and teaching that can be drawn from the strategies developed by a group of world-leading companies? What are the determining factors for developing a strategy for leadership and value creation? What are the main principles, tools, and methodologies for developing a strategic background aimed at long-term development? The aim is to illustrate, even with real examples, how companies interacting with the environmental context can develop strategies for leadership. The book aims to offer new models to improve the quality of strategic decisions and the understanding of developmental determinants.
***** ALLA RICERCA DELL’ECCELLENZA IMPRENDITORIALE In questo libro si cerca di dare una risposta ad alcune domande critiche: Quali sono le strategie delle migliori aziende che sviluppano strategie sostenibili con un orientamento di fondo di lungo periodo? Qual è la differenza di valori, cultura, sistema di valori in una strategia sostenibile nel lungo periodo? Il libro risponde a queste domande e sviluppa un nuovo modello originale basato su caso empirico. In un contesto ambientale in continuo cambiamento vi è sempre più la necessità di strumenti avanzati per comprendere e individuare le determinanti dello sviluppo strategico e della creazione di valore delle imprese. Particolare interesse è interrogarsi su alcune domande Quale è l'esperienza e l'insegnamento che si può ricavare dalle strategie sviluppate da un gruppo di imprese leaders mondiali ? Quali sono i fattori determinanti per sviluppare una strategia per la leadership e la creazione di valore? Quali sono i principali principi, strumenti, metodologie per sviluppare un orientamento strategico di fondo volto alla sviluppo di lungo periodo? L'obiettivo è quello d'illustrare, anche con esempi reali, come le aziende interagendo con il contesto ambientale possano sviluppare strategie per la leadership. ll libro vuole offrire nuovi modelli per migliorare la qualità delle decisioni strategiche e la comprensione delle determinanti dello sviluppo.

- by angelo riva
- •
- Tourism Management, Values Education, Production, Sustainable Development

Today, India is an important player in garment export. Production is highly 'localised' and scattered across the subcontinent. It is organised in industrial clusters, with distinct production and labour practices and product specialisations. Product cycles involve numerous ancillary activities, and are often decentralised from main urban tailoring hubs. They connect different realms and spaces of production and labour, and different clusters. This paper explores how this organisational layout severely limits the impact of old and new corporate social responsibility (CSR) labour projects and regulations. It does so by looking at the case of the National Capital Region (NCR) and one of its satellite embroidery centres, Bareilly, in Uttar Pradesh. In particular, it reveals the contradictory nature of new CSR projects focusing on homeworkers. The arguments developed here are not only a criticism of global buyers' approaches to labour standards. They also more broadly question the ability to elaborate meaningful standards within decentralised production regimes, deconstructing over-optimistic images of India as a 'rising power'.

Questo capitolo presenta i primi risultati di una ricerca empirica tesa
ad indagare se e come cambino le pratiche e le narrazioni del produrre
moda a Prato, il distretto industriale italiano per eccellenza. Si chiede se il distretto di Prato come centro della produzione di fast fashion sia attrezzato ad affrontare la crisi da coronavirus anche nella
prospettiva di una riorganizzazione delle catene del valore con network
di produzione “accorciati”. Inoltre, il contributo offre alcune riflessioni
preliminari sui percorsi di giovani imprenditrici e imprenditori e designer
cinesi che operano sul territorio pratese o in collegamento ad esso.
Ci chiediamo se il territorio pratese con le sue peculiarità e le sinergie
che si vengono a creare nel mondo della moda tra Italia e Cina stiano
alimentato le ambizioni degli imprenditori da una parte e la creatività
dei giovani venuti dalla Cina dall’altra, rivoluzionando così la produzione
di moda e il territorio, o se, al contrario, i meccanismi del mercato
insieme alla débâcle subita dai distretti industriali negli ultimi decenni
inibiscano queste capacità schiacciando i giovani sugli imperativi di una
fast fashion di basso livello dove non c’è spazio per la creatività.

Maizza A., Iazzi A., “International marketing strategies for the Italian agro-food districts”, in 10TH International Marketing Trends Conference Proceedings, Paris, 20th-22nd January 2011. ISBN 978-2-9532811-2-5. Abstract... more

- by Amedeo Maizza
- •
- Internationalization, Industrial Districts

Valencia, a region in the Southeastern part of Spain, concentrates the two thirds of Spanish footwear industry, a sector in which Spain stands out as producer and also as exporter. This paper analyses the configuration process of Valencia footwear industry between 1850 and 1930, deeping in its origins, the technological evolution and growth patterns experimented by main producers zones.

Drawing from literature on immigrant entrepreneurship, local production systems and the concept of embeddedness, this paper aims to explore the role of small and medium sized firms established by Chinese immigrants in some Italian... more

- by Eduardo Barberis
- •
- Chinese Studies, Immigration, Industrial Districts

Il contributo torna a osservare un territorio molto praticato dalle scienze economiche e sociali, in quanto caso emblematico e di successo di sviluppo distrettuale, concentrando però l'attenzione sulle trasformazioni avvenute nelle sue forme insediative, negli oggetti urbani, negli usi e nelle pratiche che interessano il territorio. Il testo, pertanto, ricostruisce una storia spaziale del distretto ceramico di Sassuolo che consente di ragionare sulle trasformazioni locali del rapporto produzione-territorio-società, mettendo in evidenza – soprattutto nei tre racconti 'al passato' – come, di fronte ai cambiamenti socio-economici, l'urbanistica abbia di volta in volta legittimato, indirizzato, ostacolato, accompagnato o sostenuto i processi di urbanizzazione e industrializzazione diffusa, dando risposte alle differenti esigenze di imprese e popolazioni. Il racconto 'al presente' descrivere e interpreta i molteplici e contraddittori fenomeni di trasformazione in corso, di depotenziamento ma anche di qualificazione del territorio. A partire dal 'resoconto' dei processi in atto, infine, si propone un'ipotesi di scenario evolutivo per il futuro di questo territorio – ma anche di molti altri contesti dell'industrializzazione diffusa – e si esplicitano alcune azioni concrete, e oggi non più rimandabili, che lavorano sull'esistente, sul capitale fisso sociale, sui depositi materiali che si sono stratificati sul territorio – e che sono l'oggetto del lavoro di indagine fotografica presentato sinteticamente nel contributo – immaginando la natura, le caratteristiche e l'agenda di una nuova 'città-distretto'.

- by Cristiana Mattioli
- •
- Local Development, Spatial planning, Industrial Districts, City-Regions

Flexible specialisation, the new competition and industrial districts are concepts reviewed in this articte to determine whether they can provide an alternative for the description of the industrial sector as a system of mass production. The concepts mentioned are discussed and criticized in this article. All three concepts stress the importance of a certain division of labour, of interfirm relations, of cooperation (versus competition), of technological development and innovation diffusion, of flexibility, the role of small enterprises and a local value system. However, a number of differences between the concepts are also highlighted, as well as the problems to use them in empirical research. It is concluded that the three terms are complementary and could be used in combination. The 'flexible competitive districts' would provide an alternative type of industrial organization, somewhere between the large scale integrated enterprise and the atomized self-contained individual firm. The challenge lies in turning the positive theory into a normative one. How can industrial development in Eastern Europe and Third world countries be turned into the development of flexible competitive district, which contribute significantly to the development of these countries and allow for an important rote for micro, small and medium enterprises? It is argued that this can be done in the framework of urban and regional development policies, but this requires a different role for the government and the provision of an adequate infrastructure.

- by Meine Pieter van Dijk
- •
- Small Business, Competition, Industrial Districts

Our goal in this paper is to trace out the main lines of symbiosis that link the cultural economy with celebrity and glamour. We observe two trends emerging with great force in the 21st century: The commodification of celebrity and its trappings, and the democratization of celebrity across the globe. These phenomena emerge in the context of the modern city, and they constitute a dynamic nexus of developmental effects. We proceed by deriving celebrity and glamour out of the logic of commercialized cultural production in association with localized scenes, fandom, and a specific kind of economic and cultural infrastructure. We show that this logic is most intense in major world centers of contemporary capitalism. Celebrity and glamour have major economic impacts on these centers both through their integration into localized systems of agglomeration economies and their effects on the marketing and commercialization of culturally inflected outputs, producing winner-take-all geographies responsible for the individuals and scenes that maintain the celebrity ecosystem. We conclude the paper with a critical examination of the wider social and political meaning of celebrity and glamour and their relations to commodified culture generally.

- by Allen Scott
- •
- Cultural Studies, Media Sociology, Sociology of Culture, Geography

Building on the early works of Alfred Marshall, analyses of local economies have emphasized the spatial function of clusters and industrial districts in terms of external economies of localization and agglomeration. Recent literature has emphasized the importance of culture and the complementarities between culture and local tangible and intangible assets. This paper aims to provide an analytical foundation for these processes with a view to developing tools for policy design, analysis and evaluation. By " system-wide cultural districts, " we refer to a new approach to local development where cultural production and participation present significant strategic complementarities with other production chains. In this view, culture drives the accumulation of intangible assets such as human, social, and cultural/symbolic capital, thereby fostering economic and social growth and environmental sustainability.

- by Guido Ferilli and +1
- •
- Industrial Districts, Agglomeration, Capability Building

L a teoría sobre la cual se han analizado los distritos industriales (clusters) ha seguido un proceso evolutivo a partir de 1930. La premisa básica de los beneficios colaterales que conlleva la aglomeración y proximidad geográfica entre grupos de empresas (tales como la difusión de conocimiento, el fortalecimiento de las relaciones y enlaces entre empresas, tanto hacia delante como en los primeros eslabones de las cadenas productivas) sigue en boga, particularmente en la Unión Europea y en Estados Unidos. Originalmente, el concepto de distrito industrial es propuesto por Alfred Marshall, si bien en décadas recientes ha sido un grupo de investigadores italianos encabezados por Becattini, Rabellotti y Paniccia el que ha sentado las bases de la Teoría Italiana del Distrito Industrial .

- by Raul Pacheco-Vega
- •
- Human Geography, Economic Geography, Clusters & Networks, Industrial Districts

This article aims at gaining greater insight into the functioning of small-scale industries in an African context. The findings are based on predominately qualitative fieldwork conducted on small-scale carpentry industries in Accra, Ghana. A special concern is whether the small-scale carpenters are capable of acquiring the technological capabilities conducive to a positive industrial development. Two opposing frameworks, one neo-Marxist and one centred on the conceptualisation of industrial districts, are used to discern the nature of locally embedded production and supply linkages, and whether these are conducive to the technological capabilities needed for innovative growth. Despite facing similar structural constraints there are a few small-scale enterprises that remove themselves from the characteristics of informal production by making the greatest use of the services entailed in the carpentry production network. These linkages, however, are still not extensive enough, nor advanced enough, to bring about the technological innovations associated with a true industrial district. The benefits gained through interlinked production are thus better understood as a means of securing domestic resilience, rather than international competitiveness. Furthermore, an explanation for the limitations of these linkages must be sought beyond the meso-level analysis typical of an industrial district approach.

- by Kristian Stokke
- •
- Ghana, Industrial Districts, Small Scale Industry, Carpentry
- by Sabrina Tosi Cambini
- •
- Urban Anthropology, Urban Studies, Urban Sociology, Chinese minorities

Per capire le dinamiche dell'economia empolese è opportuno dismettere la tendenza, più volte perseguita, di leggerla puntando l'attenzione di volta in volta sul "settore dominante", come del resto ci invitano a fare i dati sugli addetti dei censimenti industriali. La vicenda economica manifatturiera empolese appare insomma refrattaria a una definizione stabile e univoca. Se è vero che in senso etimologico "definire" significa porre dei confini, delimitare, mettere un termine alle possibili variabili di mutamento, in modo da poter ricondurre la variabilità fenomenica a schemi intellegibili e "governabili", siamo qui in presenza di una realtà restia a farsi ingabbiare una volta per tutte in un singolo modello di riferimento: essa si presenta piuttosto come «un modello di sviluppo industriale dai caratteri [...] marcatamente polisettoriali», un «sistema distrettuale disarticolato» o ancora un «distretto [...] mai monoculturale», per quanto (sia detto per inciso) il rimando a un distretto idealtipico, dalle caratteristiche omogenee e monocorde non corrisponda alla formulazione di quel concetto da parte dei suoi primi studiosi.

- by Stefano Gallo
- •
- Economic History, Labour history, Industrial Districts, Tuscany

La ricerca presentata in questo libro è stata realizzata in un arco di tempo esteso (1985-1997) per seguire i percorsi internazionali delle piccole imprese appartenenti a un distretto, quello pesarese del mobile, per il quale fin dalle origini si è evidenziata una forte presenza di economie distrettuali “di canale” nelle relazioni con i circuiti commerciali esterni, nazionali e internazionali. Si tratta di un modello di sviluppo parzialmente difforme da quello di altri sistemi distrettuali, che si è protratto nel tempo e ha maturato una diffusa coscienza dell’internazionalizzazione, sfruttando a proprio vantaggio la varietà di sollecitazioni, di interlocutori e di spazi mercato via via disponibili.
Dinamiche che, sul fronte delle imprese, hanno messo in luce una grande versatilità ma talvolta anche profili statici e scarsa permeabilità fra esperienze vissute nel mercato interno e nei mercati esteri. L’appartenenza al doppio sistema distretto-canale determina infatti un’articolazione di ruoli e un intreccio di relazioni che scaturisce dal complesso combinarsi di piccole dimensioni di impresa, distretto industriale e processi di internazionalizzazione e che richiede una visione di insieme e comportamenti coerenti.
Collocare la piccola impresa nel distretto e nel canale aiuta a riflettere sulla sua effettiva e potenziale capacità strategica, dando valore alle dinamiche relazionali nell’intera filiera di produzione e vendita e coinvolgendo quindi la dimensione distrettuale nel confronto competitivo.

- by Fabio Musso
- •
- Clusters & Networks, Internationalization, Industrial Districts, Industrial Clusters
- by Gandolfo Dominici
- •
- Industrial Districts, Distretti Industriali

There is abundant literature on the characteristics and success factors inherent in the industrial district. However, most of these works are focused on addressing the mechanisms that ensure the district be successful without properly treating the conditions enabling the activation of those mechanisms. The proper understanding of how, where and when emerge industrial districts, from an agent based model (bottomup approach), allows characterizing more adequately the dynamics of the industrial district, and how public policies can affect the process, rather than traditional approaches that address the problem focusing on the district or system as a whole, simplifying and ignoring the dynamics of social processes that underlie the district. Agent-based models make possible to tackle the analysis of complex phenomena, capturing processes not described by traditional techniques. The centerpiece is the agent, instead of the whole system. It also explicitly considered and modeled the heterogeneity of agents, their social interactions and decision-making processes. This paper presents the characteristics of an agent-based model, which reproduces the dynamics of industrial districts and predicts the effects of public policies on their operation. This model is an adaptation of model MOSIPS (MOdel of Simulation of Impacts of Public Policies on SMEs). We present a number of recent empirical works on this methodology applied to the study of industrial districts, and emphasize its convenience and potential. Then, we describe the simulation model of the industrial district showing the characteristics of the agents, the environment, social interactions, actions that agents perform, and decision rules that are part of modeling.