Social networks and productive connectance: modeling the organizational form of the industrial district

This paper deals with the modelling of the system of social and economic relations characterizing the industrial district, in the sense of an organizational form based on a set of small enterprises linked together by co-operative and competitive relationships. The authors emphasize the concept of relationship which, in the industrial district, may be of both an industrial and a social nature. The industrial district is seen as a socio-economic entity, and that is why the concept of social networks and graph theory are used to represent the cooperative and competitive relationships between enterprises in the district. The idea of network is amply used in sociological analysis and enables an adequate representation of the relationships between enterprises. Particular importance is attributed to the concept of 'relational space', by which the authors mean an application of the space of economic relations on the physical space defined by the system of social relations. The paper goes on to discuss the organizational form of the district, evaluated on the basis of the concept of connectance and emphasizing the particular position of the industrial district form among the various market forms. The concept of information and knowledge acquires a specific significance in connectance, in relation to which a model proposed by Boisot is used.