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Italian Industrial Districts on the Move: Where Are They Going?

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  • Roberta Rabellotti
  • Anna Carabelli
  • Giovanna Hirsch

Abstract

Since the second half of the 1990s the Italian economy has experienced a significant slowdown in the rate of economic growth. The “dwarfism” of its manufacturing firms, their specialization in traditional sectors and their organization in industrial districts have been identified by many scholars as major structural weaknesses in the Italian industrial system. Nevertheless, there is a vast and flourishing empirical literature showing that many industrial districts are actually changing in terms of sector specialization, international and innovation strategies and emergence of new forms of enterprise organization. In this paper, we provide a critical survey of the new and different patterns of industrial organization emerging in industrial districts.

Suggested Citation

  • Roberta Rabellotti & Anna Carabelli & Giovanna Hirsch, 2007. "Italian Industrial Districts on the Move: Where Are They Going?," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 19-41, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:eurpls:v:17:y:2007:i:1:p:19-41
    DOI: 10.1080/09654310802513914
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    1. Trippl , Michaela & Grillitsch , Markus & Isaksen , Arne, 2015. "External “energy” for regional industrial change: attraction and absorption of non-local knowledge for new path development," Papers in Innovation Studies 2015/47, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    2. Marco Bellandi & Lisa De Propris, 2017. "New forms of industrial districts," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 44(4), pages 411-427, December.
    3. Silvia Rita Sedita & Ivan De Noni & Luciano Pilotti, 2014. "How do related variety and differentiated knowledge bases influence the resilience of local production systems?," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0180, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
    4. Valentina De Marchi & Riccardo Voltani, 2014. "Aziende distrettuali e non distrettuali a confronto: le performance nel settore orafo italiano," ECONOMIA E SOCIET? REGIONALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2014(1), pages 163-186.
    5. Sandrine Labory, 2011. "Role of external knowledge flows in cluster upgrading: an empirical analysis of the Mirandola biomedical district in Italy," Working Papers 201114, University of Ferrara, Department of Economics.
    6. Mauro Capestro & Elisabetta Tarantino & Fabrizio Morgangni & Eleonora Tricarico & Gianluigi Guido, 2014. "Distretti calzaturieri in crisi: cause del declino e strategie di rinnovamento," ECONOMIA E SOCIET? REGIONALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2014(1), pages 187-212.
    7. Eleonora Cutrini, 2010. "Moving Eastwards While Remaining Embedded: The Case of the Marche Footwear District, Italy," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(6), pages 991-1019, June.
    8. Claudio Di Berardino & Alessandra Sarra, 2013. "L'evoluzione delle esportazioni nelle province italiane ad alta distrettualit? (2001-2011): quali fattori di eterogeneit??," ECONOMIA E SOCIET? REGIONALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(3), pages 167-193.
    9. Pietro Pavone, 2019. "Italian Districts in the Furniture Industry During and After the International Economic Crisis," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 9(1), pages 160-169, January.
    10. Kaplinsky, Raphael, 2015. "Technological upgrading in global value chains and clusters and their contribution to sustaining economic growth in low and middle income economies," MERIT Working Papers 2015-027, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    11. Grigori Feiguine & Julia Solovjova, 2013. "ICT Investment and Internationalization of the Russian Economy," EIIW Discussion paper disbei196, Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal, University Library.
    12. Valter Di Giacinto & Matteo Gomellini & Giacinto Micucci & Marcello Pagnini, 2014. "Mapping local productivity advantages in Italy: industrial districts, cities or both?," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 14(2), pages 365-394.
    13. Valentina De Marchi & Joonkoo Lee & Gary Gereffi, 2014. "Globalization, Recession and the Internationalization of Industrial Districts: Experiences from the Italian Gold Jewellery Industry," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(4), pages 866-884, April.
    14. Silvia Cantele & Silvia Vernizzi & Francesca Ricciardi, 2016. "The emerging wave of agility-oriented business networks in Italy: a new strategy for facing global competition," World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 12(2/3), pages 270-284.
    15. Trippl , Michaela & Grillitsch , Markus & Isaksen , Arne & Sinozic , Tanja, 2015. "Understanding Cluster Evolution," Papers in Innovation Studies 2015/46, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    16. Silvia Sopranzetti, 2018. "The Italian Districts in the Global Value Chains," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 4(3), pages 497-522, November.
    17. Jiří Blažek & Viktor Květoň & Simon Baumgartinger-Seiringer & Michaela Trippl, 2019. "The dark side of regional industrial path development: towards a typology of trajectories of decline," PEGIS geo-disc-2019_08, Institute for Economic Geography and GIScience, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    18. Alberto Bagnai, 2016. "Italy’s decline and the balance-of-payments constraint: a multicountry analysis," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 1-26, January.
    19. Nunzia Carbonara & Ilaria Giannoccaro, 2014. "Determinants of MNC location choice in industrial districts: an empirical analysis in Italy," Chapters, in: Charlie Karlsson & Börje Johansson & Roger R. Stough (ed.), Agglomeration, Clusters and Entrepreneurship, chapter 5, pages 85-102, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    20. Caravella, Serenella & Crespi, Francesco & Guarascio, Dario & Tubiana, Matteo, 2020. "Competitive strategies, heterogeneous demand sources and firms’ growth trajectories," GLO Discussion Paper Series 442, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    21. Lucia Cusmano & Andrea Morrison & Enrico Pandolfo, 2015. "Spin-off and clustering: a return to the Marshallian district," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 39(1), pages 49-66.
    22. Bettiol, Marco & Burlina, Chiara & Chiarvesio, Maria & Di Maria, Eleonora, 2017. "From Delocalisation to Backshoring? Evidence from Italian Industrial Districts," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 39, pages 137-154.
    23. Grigori Feiguine & Julia Solovjova, 2014. "ICT investment and internationalization of the Russian economy," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 231-250, February.
    24. Enrico Beretta & Silvia Del Prete, 2013. "Banking consolidation and bank-firm credit relationships: the role of geographical features and relationship characteristics," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 901, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.

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