KNOWLEDGE DYNAMICS IN THE EVOLUTION OF ITALIAN INDUSTRIAL DISTRICS

The key questions discussed in this chapter are: firstly, what types of industrial districts are there in Italy and where do they come from? And secondly, how they have been able to develop an original technological trajectory? In Section 2 the origin of the industrial district model is discussed, within a theoretical framework that stresses its heterogeneity. Section 3, based on an ample survey that, using scientific publication appeared in academic journals and in the club dei distretti industriali association, has collected detailed information for 54 cases, deals with the issue of the origin of Italian industrial districts. In particular, the impact of four triggering factors (ancient craft traditions, natural resource endowment, anchor firm, and exogenous entry) is examined. Growth/evolutionary factors in the development of the Italian districts are, then, elaborated in Section 4. The main results in terms of district heterogeneity and multiple paths are examined in the conclusions in Section 5.