IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/stp/stepre/1995r03.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Industrial Districts as 'learning regions'. A condition for prosperity

Author

Abstract

The future of industrial districts has been critically discussed during the last years. Some observers have raised questions about the long-run stability of industrial districts, arguing that they will be fragmented either through the take-over of the most successful SMEs by TNCs or the formation of hierarchies of firms inside the districts led by the most dynamic SMEs (Harrison 1994a, 1994b)). Others suggest that some industrial districts will develop a "post-Marshallian" organisation of production, i.e. to become Marshallian nodes within global networks (Amin, Thrift 1992). As this will imply a reduced level of vertical disintegration locally, one could ask how "Marshallian" such nodes would eventually become? (Harrison 1994b). The endogenous innovative capacity of the districts is of strategic importance for their future development. Bellandi sees "the assessment of the endogenous innovation capacities of the industrial districts ... (as) ... a key issue" (Bellandi 1994, 73). More specifically this means the capability of SMEs in industrial districts to break path dependency and change technological trajectory through radical innovations. In this paper factors enabling and constraining such structural change will be discussed. Special focus will be directed towards analysing the role and function of the specific "Marshallian" characteristics of industrial districts in the process of change. In my view the core of the question is related to the learning capacity of SMEs in industrial districts, which will be crucial to their future innovativeness and flexibility (Johnson, Lundvall 1991). Will the traditional "Marshallian" industrial district be able to secure a sufficient learning capacity, or will it rather represent a barrier to a successful transformation of industrial districts into "learning regions"?

Suggested Citation

  • Bjørn Asheim, "undated". "Industrial Districts as 'learning regions'. A condition for prosperity," STEP Report series 199503, The STEP Group, Studies in technology, innovation and economic policy.
    • Handle: RePEc:stp:stepre:1995r03
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.step.no/reports/Y1995/0395.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bengt-ake Lundvall & Bjorn Johnson, 1994. "The Learning Economy," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(2), pages 23-42.
    2. Russo, Margherita, 1985. "Technical change and the industrial district: The role of interfirm relations in the growth and transformation of ceramic tile production in Italy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 14(6), pages 329-343, December.
    3. Marco Bellandi & Lisa De Propris, 2012. "Small Firms and Industrial Districts," Chapters, in: Michael Dietrich & Jackie Krafft (ed.), Handbook on the Economics and Theory of the Firm, chapter 27, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Keith Smith, "undated". "New directions in research and technology policy: Identifying the key issues," STEP Report series 199401, The STEP Group, Studies in technology, innovation and economic policy.
    5. Archibugi, Daniele & Michie, Jonathan, 1995. "Technology and Innovation: An Introduction," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 19(1), pages 1-4, February.
    6. Zoltan Acs & David Audretsch, 1990. "Innovation and Small Firms," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262011131, April.
    7. Lipparini, Andrea & Sobrero, Maurizio, 1994. "The glue and the pieces: Entrepreneurship and innovation in small-firm networks," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 125-140, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arne Isaksen & Bjørn T. Asheim, "undated". "Location, agglomeration and innovation: Towards regional innovation systems in Norway?," STEP Report series 199613, The STEP Group, Studies in technology, innovation and economic policy.
    2. Planque, Bernard, 2002. "Reflections on innovation networks: contractual vs. "conventional" networks," ERSA conference papers ersa02p436, European Regional Science Association.
    3. Benner, Maximilian, 2009. "What do we know about clusters? In search of effective cluster policies," MPRA Paper 43848, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2009.
    4. Tomi Tura & Vesa Harmaakorpi, 2003. "Social Capital in Building Regional Innovative Capability: A Theoretical and Conceptual Assessment," ERSA conference papers ersa03p393, European Regional Science Association.
    5. Silvia Rita Sedita & Ivan De Noni & Roberta Apa & Luigi Orsi, 2016. "Measuring how the knowledge space shapes the technological progress of European regions," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1624, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Aug 2016.
    6. Arne Isaksen, "undated". "Location and innovation. Geographical variations in innovative activity in Norwegian manufacturing industry," STEP Report series 199603, The STEP Group, Studies in technology, innovation and economic policy.
    7. Arne Isaksen, "undated". "Regionalisation and regional clusters as development strategies in a global economy," STEP Report series 199801, The STEP Group, Studies in technology, innovation and economic policy.
    8. Raquel Ortega-Argilés & Marco Vivarelli & Peter Voigt, 2009. "R&D in SMEs: a paradox?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 3-11, June.
    9. Pier Paolo Patrucco, 2003. "Institutional Variety, Networking and Knowledge Exchange: Communication and Innovation in the Case of the Brianza Technological District," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 159-172.
    10. Arne Isaksen, "undated". "Regional Clusters and Competitiveness: the Norwegian Case," STEP Report series 199616, The STEP Group, Studies in technology, innovation and economic policy.
    11. Tomlinson, Philip R. & Fai, Felicia M., 2013. "The nature of SME co-operation and innovation: A multi-scalar and multi-dimensional analysis," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(1), pages 316-326.
    12. Anna J. Wieczorek & Marko P. Hekkert & Ruud E.H.M. Smits, 2009. "Contemporary Innovation Policy and Instruments: Challenges and Implications," Innovation Studies Utrecht (ISU) working paper series 09-12, Utrecht University, Department of Innovation Studies, revised Jul 2009.
    13. Hodgkinson, Ann & McPhee, Paul, 2002. "SME Information Sourcing for Innovation and Export Market Development: From Local or External Networks?," Economics Working Papers wp02-08, School of Economics, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia.
    14. Massimo FLORIO & Emanuele OZZIMO, 2006. "Innovation strategies for SMEs and clusters: the challenges of a globalised Europe," Departmental Working Papers 2006-16, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    15. McGuirk, Helen & Lenihan, Helena & Hart, Mark, 2015. "Measuring the impact of innovative human capital on small firms’ propensity to innovate," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 965-976.
    16. repec:ilo:ilowps:366690 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Philip Cooke, 2002. "Biotechnology Clusters as Regional, Sectoral Innovation Systems," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 25(1), pages 8-37, January.
    18. Mark Tomlinson, 2000. "Innovation surveys: A researcher's perspective," DRUID Working Papers 00-9, DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies.
    19. Michael Fritsch & Viktor Slavtchev, 2007. "What determines the efficiency of regional innovation systems?," Jena Economics Research Papers 2007-006, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    20. Talat Mahmood, 1997. "Survival of Newly Founded Businesses: A Log-Logistic Model Approach," CIG Working Papers FS IV 97-32, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB), Research Unit: Competition and Innovation (CIG).
    21. Alexis Habiyaremye, 2008. "Economic Proximity and Technology Flows: South Africa's Influence and the Role of Technological Interaction in Botswana's Diversification Effort," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2008-92, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:stp:stepre:1995r03. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Nils Henrik Solum (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/steppno.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.