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In research on industrial districts, network relations among firms and organizations are considered critical for the development and diffusion of new knowledge, with implications for innovation and regional development. A review of this literature, however, suggests that many investigators are surprisingly silent, conceptually and empirically, about the structure of innovative networks, although they often couch their arguments implicitly in structural language. The survey of a sample of 64 empirical industrial district studies shows that few researchers have measured and analysed network structures, and none have studied performance outcomes of variations in network structure. An evolutionary perspective is used to propose a research agenda for a better understanding of the relationship between network structure and innovation.Dans les recherches sur les districts industriels, les réseaux relationnels entre entreprises et organisations sont jugés essentiels pour le développement et la diffusion de nouvelles connaissances, d'où des implications pour l'innovation et l'expansion régionale. A la lumière de ces documents, on constate néanmoins que de nombreux enquèteurs sont étonnamment silencieux, à la fois au plan conceptuel et empirique, sur la structure des réseaux innovants, m?me s'ils formulent souvent leurs arguments implicitement dans un langage structural. L'examen d'un échantillon de 64 études empiriques sur les districts industriels montre que peu de chercheurs ont mesuré et analysé les structures en réseau, et qu'aucun n'a étudié les performances à la suite des variations dans ce type de structure. Appliquant une perspective évolutionniste, l'article propose un programme de recherches pour une meilleure compréhension de la relation entre structure en réseau et innovation.

PurposeThe recent transformations brought about by the globalisation of markets have increased the competitive pressure for firms operating in traditional sectors, and in particular for those in industrial districts. The authors' aim is to understand the extent to which firms responded to these new challenges. More particularly, they investigate the determinants of innovation at firm level focusing on the role of firm's outsourcing strategies.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on an original firm‐level dataset, the authors analyse the determinants of innovation in a typical Italian industrial district, i.e. the hosiery district of Castel Goffredo in the Third Italy. They apply econometric techniques, in particular OLS and Tobit models.FindingsThe authors' findings suggest that industrial districts are evolving towards a differentiated organisational structure in which innovation is driven by firms, which are focused on core competences and high valued added activities.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors' results should be interpreted with some caution, since the cross‐sectional design of their data does not allow them to fully control for potential reverse causation effects, which might be relevant for some of the explanatory variables. Their data do not allow them to include additional instrumental variables, thus they cannot control for endogeneity. Therefore, their interpretation is limited to comment the extent and regularity of the relation between dependent and explanatory variables.Practical implicationsThe evidence presented in this study corroborates some arguments highlighted in the current debate about the evolution of industrial districts. A network‐based organisation is the dominant organisational structure. The authors have some evidence on the importance of size as driver of innovation.Originality/valueThe authors find original evidence at firm level on the relation between organisational change, in the form of outsourcing, and innovation in the context of an industrial district. They also find empirical support to arguments debated in the recent policy debates on whether small firms can be regarded as engines of innovation in industrial districts.

This book sheds new light on the role of industrial districts in the industrial development of the past and present. Industrial districts, which refer to the geographical concentration of enterprises producing similar or closely related commodities in a small area, play a significant role in the development of manufacturing industries not only historically in Europe and Japan but also at present in emerging East Asian economies, such as China and Vietnam and low-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The book identifies similarities in the development patterns of industrial districts in history and the present and analyzes the reasons for these similarities. More specifically, the book examines whether Marshallian agglomeration economies provide sufficient explanations and seeks to deepen understanding about the important factors that are missing. Despite the common issues addressed by economic historians and development economists regarding the advantages of industrial districts for industrial development, discussion of these issues between the two groups of researchers has been largely absent, or at best weak. The purpose of this book is to integrate the results of case studies by economic historians interested in France, Spain, and Japan and those by development economists interested in the contemporary industries still developing in China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Tanzania, and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

This paper is concerned with the analysis of differences in employment and wage growth rates inside and outside Italian industrial districts. On the basis of national statistical data, we compare employment and wage differentials in manufacturing industries between district and non-district areas. The aim is to investigate whether the industrial district model generates better labour conditions for sustaining employment performance and wage levels.

Utilising a wide array of data and rich empirical evidence drawn from a large sample of industrial districts (IDs), Ivana Paniccia presents a realistic, state-of-the-art analysis of their socio-economic structure and performance. This extensive yet detailed study adopts a wide perspective, integrating historical evidence and different streams of literature - from industrial to regional economics - into testable hypotheses. The multidisciplinary, quantitative approach adopted by the author, enables her to 'de-structure' the 'canonical' idea of the ID and evaluate the normative value. Supported by multivariate and econometric analyses, she identifies four general types of ID each with different development paths, performances, inter-organizational relations, and regulatory rules and institutions. The results demonstrate that IDs on average achieve better static or dynamic economic performance than non-ID areas. The analysis also highlights critical points of rupture in the socio-economic equilibrium of IDs which may impair their future competitiveness and social sustainability. The author offers a critical appraisal of the organizational literature on IDs, claiming for caution in their depiction as 'cooperative systems' and goes on to present the first steps towards a 'microfoundation' of a theory on IDs. Providing the methodology to monitor the performance and evolution of IDs, together with precise policy suggestions, this book will appeal to a broad range of scholars and researchers in a variety of disciplines including regional, industrial and institutional economics, organizational studies and industrial sociology