Evolutionary patterns of Italian industrial districts

Abstract

This paper describes the results of a survey that was carried out in nineteen industrial districts in Italy. The data collected clearly show that the districts examined are undergoing a period of transition towards configurations that diverge from the neo-Marshallian model. In the past, industrial districts functioned as rather closed local networks whose only points of contact outside their confines were established at the extremities of the district system of value. This closure to the outside environment has certainly not inhibited, until the last years, the competitive advantage of the industrial districts or the firms that operate inside them. Today, on the other hand, the competitiveness of closed local networks has to meet the increasing level of globalization in the economy. The key transformation observed in all the districts included in the survey is the opening-up of the local system of value that goes beyond the mere acquisition of raw materials or the sale of goods. In other words, the districts are relating more and more with external holders of knowledge and resources, transforming a relatively closed system of exchange at local level into something rather different.