Theory Of Industrial Districts Research Articles

KNOWLEDGE OF COMMUNICATION ADAPTATION AS STABILIZATION OF PERFORMANCE ON INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT

Industrial districts face challenges after the advent of information technology (on line), which considers that places are not important but for some industry players and consumers to determine. The concept model offers practical and implementable solutions for industry players so that performance is at a minimum before or after moving to an industrial district. The concept model is derived from the industrial district theory and the organizational typology of knowledge. Knowledge of communication adaptation is a mediating alternative between government perceptions and industry players. Concept definitions are explained in this study.Keywords: Industrial district, Typology of organizational knowledge, Adaptation, Communication.

The Marshallian industrial district and inclusive urban growth strategy

This article is aimed at linking industrial district theory with inclusive urban growth strategies. The recent growth model of capitalism is here characterised by two complementary theories: Becattini’s industrial district theory and Piketty’s studies on capital in the twenty-first century. It is argued that an integrated approach consisting of both those theories with theories of the city allows new strategies of inclusive urban growth to be addressed. The approach based on industrial district theory allows action on the distribution of income through productivity increases, based on the generation of increasing returns obtained through Marshallian external economies of an urban nature in assemblies of socio-territorial communities, resulting in a more inclusive path towards urban growth.

Co-operation and competition in production and exchange: the “district” form of industrial organization and development

This paper considers the role of co-operation and competition in production and exchange—and the “district” form of industrial organization and development. It examines Alfred Marshall’s theory of industrial districts—localized groups of small firms and their suppliers that were at the heart of Britain’s industrial development. However, with the emergence and growth of very large and successful vertically integrated firms—and as the conventional wisdom evolved to view large size as the next stage in industrial evolution—the small firm sector was progressively marginalized. In this process, Marshall’s dynamic and evolutionary approach to industrial organization was abandoned. However, the discovery of competitively successful agglomerations of small firms in Italy during the 1960s served as the motivation for construction of a new theory of the “Marshallian” industrial district, pioneered by Giacomo Becattini and Sebastiano Brusco. The success of these modern industrial districts in securing inter-firm co-operation and channelling their joint efforts towards quality upgrading and product and process innovation, at a time when large firms and the “Fordist” mass production model were generally in decline, brought them to the attention of the international research and policy community. Since then, the literature on this form of industrial organization has proliferated; and Marshall’s methodology and theory has proven remarkably resilient in explaining the dynamic, non-equilibrium processes involved in their development, evolution and performance over time.

A Black Swan in the district? An IMP perspective on immigrant entrepreneurship and changes in industrial districts

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to discuss the changes of the Italian textile district of Prato, considered an exemplary case of the industrial district (ID) model, using a business network perspective. The “Black Swan” metaphor is used to address the changes in the Prato textile district in order to understand whether such changes have been an unexpected and unpredictable phenomenon, or they can be explain with a different theoretical tool-box, namely, that developed by the industrial network approach.Design/methodology/approach– The paper utilizes already published studies on the changes of the textile/fashion companies located to the Prato area. Both studies that have been carried out within an ID approach and those carried out with an Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) point of departure are considered in the research. Both types of studies were utilized to identify empirical observed changes of the producer, respectively user setting that the Prato located companies was related to, including identification of changes affecting both the local setting and the larger network it was related to.Findings– The utilization of the IMP model proposes a learning ground that exceed the local context and open ups of investigations of opportunities and threats stemming from interactions across spatial borders. Analysed from an interactive point of view, in the specific context of Prato, the exploitation of the opportunities given by establishing relationship between natives and migrants actors goes through the creation of interactions among actors representing specific resource combinations and activity structures – within and outside the local community.Originality/value– The paper concerns how the same research object – the changes of the Prato district – appears from another perspective different from the ID theory, namely, the industrial network approach developed by scholars of the IMP Group.

Business agglomeration in tourist districts and hotel performance

Purpose – The present paper aims to analyze how the performance of hotels located on the Spanish Mediterranean coast (peninsular and Balearic) and Canary coast is affected by the degree of business agglomeration in tourist districts. If agglomeration affects hotels positively, then the externalities generated in tourist districts will be relevant when locating an establishment. Otherwise, the reason why hotels group together geographically would be more related to the suitability of beaches as a tourist destination. The study also analyzes the impact that regions or autonomous communities have on hotel performance. Design/methodology/approach – The hypotheses are tested by multiple linear regression in which hotel profitability acts as the dependent variable which can be explained by independent variables such as the greater or lesser agglomeration of tourist companies at the destination and the autonomous region where the hotel is located. Findings – The results show that hotels situated at destinations with a higher degree of agglomeration are less profitable, probably due to the greater rivalry that exists among nearby competitors. However, in accordance with the theory of tourist districts, one could expect hotels located at destinations with a higher degree of agglomeration to be more profitable because of the greater externalities generated within the district. In this sense, it is possible that hotel location decisions were based more on the natural advantage model, where firms look for specialized inputs like beach or climate, than on production externalities models. Research limitations/implications – It was necessary to work with secondary information sources which contain no data about RevPar (revenue per available room) or GopPar (gross operating profit per available room), the hotel profitability measures most often used in research studies. Practical implications – The paper could be useful for hotel companies, when they are deciding on a location, and for public administrations. Originality/value – The present paper is original for several reasons. First, it is one of the first studies which applies the theory of industrial districts to the tourism sector, a line of research which is still in its early stages of development. Furthermore, the ISTAT methodology is applied for the first time to the identification of Spanish tourist districts. Also, various studies relate the degree of agglomeration to hotel profitability, but none so far have used the degree of company agglomeration within a tourist district, linking it to profitability.

The reinterpretation of the agri-food system and its spatial dynamics through the industrial district

The industrial district theory has brought to the development economics the opportunity to interpret the economic change through places, where it actually is formed, as a result of the join action of the local and extra-local social, economic and institutional forces. This paper sets out to discuss the contribution that the industrial district theory can make to the debate on the spatial dynamics of agri-food systems in the age of globalisation. To this end, the first part of the paper analyses the contribution of the industrial district approach in the relationship between industry and territory; the second part studies the evolution of the concept of the agri-food system and the main determinants of the spatial dynamics in modern agri food systems. This paper supports that the industrial district theory can shed a new light on the spatial dynamics of agri-food systems, and can offer an alternative to the mainstream approach. In using the local community as a unit of analysis, the ID theory gives a key role to human agents of production and their knowledge and the agri-food system can be seen as ‘a global network of places’, each place being specialized in a different component of the system.  

Regional Innovation Systems, Clean Technology & Jacobian Cluster-Platform Policies

AbstractThis paper concerns the brief history of the Regional Innovation Systems (RIS) concept. It shows that the success of the concept in academic and policy circles is because, unlike most regional economic policy instruments, it is flexible and eschews ‘one‐size‐fits‐all’ type thinking by analysing and advocating different instruments according to the characteristics of the region. There are three sources of influence upon the concept. The first one is general systems theory, especially as it evolved in the late 1960s as the systems planning perspective. Second the innovation systems approach was influenced by an emergent regional innovation policy and practice literature in the 1980s. Finally, it drew on ideas of ‘network regions’ which themselves have origins in industrial district theory, milieu research and innovation systems studies. Most recently the use of ‘related variety’ analysis, particularly applied regarding ‘green innovation’ has yielded an exciting explanation of regional growth by (Jacobian) cluster mutation. At the policy level, RIS strategies have in recent years been adopted by multilateral agencies and many countries and regions.

Regional innovation systems: origin of the species

This paper concerns the brief history of the Regional Innovation Systems (RIS) concept. It shows that the success of the concept in academic and policy circles is because, unlike most regional economic policy instruments, it is flexible and eschews 'one-size-fits-all' type thinking by analysing and advocating different instruments according to the characteristics of the region. There are three sources of influence upon the concept. The first one is general systems theory, especially as it evolved in the late 1960s as the systems planning perspective. Second, the innovation systems approach was influenced by an emergent regional innovation policy and practice literature in the 1980s. Finally, it drew on ideas of 'network regions' which themselves have origins in industrial district theory, milieu research, and finally, innovation systems studies. The whole has made for one of the fastest growing research literatures in innovation studies generally. At the policy level, RIS strategies have in recent years been adopted by countries such as South Korea, China, Norway and Sweden.

〈日本の産業集積〉論と発注側の商慣行

The purpose of this paper is to reveal the conditions for maintenance and development of economies of agglomeration in Japanese industrial districts.The existing theory of industrial districts in Japan has focused on the supplier-side logic and insists that a necessary condition for small-scale manufacturers (suppliers) to enjoy economies of agglomeration is the existence of local markets for special skills within the industrial district. On the other hand, it has been unconcerned with the purchaser-side logic. To shed light on the purchaser-side logic, we interviewed large retail firms in the role of purchasers for industrial districts and 21 smallscale firms located in Tokyo's Ota Ward and Joto area having the role of supplier. These interviews clearly showed the importance of business practices called “Kouza” and “Chouai”. Large enterprises on the purchaser side deal only with kouza-holding firms (direct suppliers) and chouai-saki which coordinate sub-suppliers.Assuming these business practices, for purchasers the presence within the industrial district of firms holding kouza becomes a necessary condition of enjoying economies of agglomeration. In conclusion, this paper proposes a new model of industrial districts combining supplier-side and purchaser-side logic.

Linking the division of labour to entrepreneurial orientation of firms: a theoretical proposal

The goal of this theoretical paper is to provide a framework that can support firms involved in social networks to improve their entrepreneurial orientation by adopting a simple basic principle (division of labour). Entrepreneurship does not depend only on tangible resources (such as physical assets or the financial resources of an entrepreneur) but it is widely related to the availability of individual and social (intangible) factors also. Assuming such an 'intangible view' of entrepreneurship, this theoretical proposal suggests that the division of labour implemented by a firm both internally and externally increases its human and social capital. These two factors are considered key elements in order to address and increase the entrepreneurial orientation of the firm. In the course of the paper, evidence supporting these ideas is briefly explored. This study therefore, embraces crucial ideas from the economic, sociological and industrial district theory (as division of labour and social ties to foster entrepreneurship within the network) and applies them to explain concepts of strategic management and business administration.

Cities as the Industrial Districts of Housebuilding

AbstractIn North America the housebuilding industry is ubiquitous and locally autonomous. In Ontario during the 1990s, 81% of urban single‐family homes were erected by locally based builders, a proportion that varied with urban isolation. Urban areas may be regarded as the industrial districts of home builders: numerous small, specialized firms interact frequently within a rich, embedded market network; subcontracting is the norm; networks and firm boundaries are fluid. The theory of industrial districts offers a useful vocabulary for analysing the neglected building industry. Analytically, the building industry offers unequalled opportunities to explore the dynamics of industrial districts, and how economic globalization meets local limits.

Desafios metodológicos no mapeamento de clusters industriais: o caso de São José dos Campos

Ateoria de Clusters, com origens na teoria marshalliana de distritos industriais, ganhou um novo impulso com os estudos publicados recentemente por Porter. Em sua teoria, aspectos de economia geográfica, complexos industriais e dinâmica competitiva fundem-se para caracterizar o cluster porteriano. O construto do cluster, entretanto, ainda necessita de maior formalização para ser plenamente operacionalizável. Nesse sentido, os críticos de Porter questionam se o conceito de cluster é aplicável aos países em desenvolvimento. O objetivo desse artigo é abrir algumas avenidas de investigação que poderiam avançar as problemáticas acima. A partir do exemplo de São José dos Campos, buscou-se mapear os clusters de aeronáutica e armamentos bélicos na região, utilizando-se o índice de especialização (IE). Em seguida, foi estabelecida a relação entre a existência do cluster com a qualidade de vida da região, representada pelo índice IDH-M. Finalmente, apontou-se as possibilidades de expansão da teoria porteriana de clusters, a partir das análises realizadas e de estudos anteriores sobre a região.

Constructing Innovativeness in New-Media Start-Up Firms

We focus on the social construction of innovativeness in the context of project teams and interfirm networks among new-media start-up firms in Silicon Alley, Manhattan. The analysis is based on a total of thirty-four interviews with firm executives and other informants. A brief discussion of the historical and structural context of the research project is followed by an exposition of the theoretical framework, that is, the theory of industrial districts and the hypothesized connection between innovativeness and interactivity. In each of the three subsequent sections of the paper, the empirical findings are presented and analyzed: the grounded conceptions of innovativeness, the two main variants of project organization (self-organized versus managerially coordinated project teams), and the varieties of interfirm networks such as transactional and mixed networks. Other networking practices documented are client relations and hiring. We consider the effect of state-level legal infrastructure and economic deregulation on the business culture of interfirm networking, information sharing, and innovativeness.

Local systems, industrial districts and institutional networks: Towards a new evolutionary paradigm of industrial economics?

Abstract This paper seeks to unify the neo‐Marshallian theory of industrial districts with evolutionary economic theory. The latter argues that firms are collective organizations with a certain degree of resource‐development capacity of their own. They are not just homogeneous atoms of rational utility maximization as neo‐classical economics assumes. Among these resources are those concerning the capacity for learning, both firm past experience and by emulating peer firms. This is similar to the thesis advanced by some theorists of industrial districts that it is practical knowledge communicated among firms that explains their coherence as production systems. Because of this, districts can evoke in ways that allow local economic development based on network relationships to coexist with apparently more powerful multinational corporations rather than being extinguished by them.

Die Konzepte der flexiblen Produktion und der Industriedistrikte als Erklärungsansätze der Regionalentwicklung

Summary: The concept of flexible production and indus trial districts and their applicability as theories of regional development According to the theories of flexible production/specia lisation and strongly connected industrial districts, a new wave of economic growth is being led in a number of regions in advanced economies by spatially concentrated networks of mostly small and medium sized enterprises, normally using flexible production technology and charac terized by extensive local inter-firm linkages. On the basis of the relevant literature, this paper tries to assess the value of both concepts regarding their applicability as theories of regional development. Three criteria are used to evaluate the concepts. First, causality is investigated concerning their basic hypotheses. Second, we ask, whether the basic hypotheses are transferable to all industries and types of regions. In order to test for empirical validity, a third group of aspects will be discussed around the ques tion of quality and quantity of empirical studies upon industrial districts. Fourth, the potential for policy conclu sions is in the centre of interest. Both concepts are valuable because they combine mainly well-known hypotheses from economic theory (e. g., loca lisation and urbanisation effects) and social sciences (cul ture, embeddedness, and common historical background as reasons for firm growth and intra-regional linkages) in a new kind of concept of regional development. In addi tion to that, they take into account the steadily growing importance of networks and flexibility in production pro cesses. However, three main deficiencies considerably decrease their value as regional development concepts. First, essential hypotheses like the local dominance of innovative networks and the comparative advantages of SME within these networks have to be characterized as yet unproved. Second, flexible economies in the sense of industrial districts are the exception to the rule of econo mies dominated by large companies integrated into inter national and global networks. Finally, in the respective literature promising regional development policies, based upon industrial district theory, are difficult to find.

Industrial Districts: Old Wine in New Bottles?

HARRISON B. (1992) Industrial districts: old wine in new bottles?, Reg. Studies 26, 469–483. According to the theory of industrial districts, a new wave of economic growth is being led in a number of regions in Europe, North America and East Asia by spatially concentrated networks of mostly small and medium sized enterprises, often using flexible production technology and characterized by extensive local interfirm linkages. Does this amount to a re-emergence of the dominance of what urban and regional economists call ‘agglomeration economies’ over the well-known pressures on business to spatially disperse its operations? Neoclassical economic theorizing from Marshall to Perroux provides one perspective on the contemporary industrial district phenomenon. Another is afforded by Granovetter's more recent elaboration of the ideas of ‘embedding’, ‘under-’ and ‘over-socialization’. Confronting each of these theoretical approaches with the other leads me to conclude that the industrial district prototypes involv...