Strategic networks: Leveraging complementarities to overcome industrial districts’ boundaries

Network relations are not a new phenomenon in the Italian industrial context: they are a distinctive trait of industrial districts. Nonetheless, it is necessary to redesign the traditional network model, and take into consideration that networks do not only emerge from proximity – as in the case of districts – but also strategically, across more complex and international markets, extracting value from relations. This article focuses on strategic networks – i.e. an aggregation resulting from joint projects – as empirical element capturing the theoretical concept of such network relations. More specifically, we use an original dataset composed by formal network contracts flourished in the area of Brescia, and we additionally compare it to the area of Lecco. We perform a descriptive analysis with the specific aim of understanding the development of this type of networks.