The Employment Regimes of Industrial Districts: Promises, Myths, and Realities

"The industrial district model views socially and regionally integrated economic relations as the basis for competitive and viable regional economies. The "socially embedded" organization of production in industrial districts is said to have emancipatory effects for labor and regional economies. This paper challenges this view. Recent developments of inter-firm relations in industrial districts in the "Third Italy" and Baden-Württemberg, the "model cases" in the district literature, reveal a number of tensions and contradictions, with precarious outcomes for labor and employment. Contradictions between local needs and global forces, business flexibility and employment security, risk sharing and risk shifting, and business efficiency and employment equity raise doubts about industrial districts as a model for "labor friendly" regional economic development." (author's abstract)"Das Modell des industriellen Distrikt betrachtet die soziale Integration wirtschaftlicher Beziehungen in die regionale Gemeinschaft als Basis für die Wettbewerbs- und Überlebensfähigkeit des Distrikts als Produktionsorganisation. Aus dieser "sozialen Einbettung" werden gewöhnlich emanzipatorische Auswirkungen für Arbeiternehmer und Regionalwirtschaft abgeleitet. Der vorliegende Aufsatz widerspricht dieser These. Neuere Entwicklungen in industriellen Distrikts im "Dritten Italien" und Baden-Württemberg, den "Modellfällen" der Distriktliteratur, deuten auf Spannungen und Widersprüche. Widersprüche zwischen lokalen Bedürfnissen und globalen Kräften, betriebliche Flexibilität und Beschäftigungssicherheit, Risikoteilung und Risikoverlagerung, und betriebliche Effizienz und Arbeitsgerechtigkeit lassen Zweifel am industriellen Distrikt als Modell für eine "arbeitnehmerfreundliche" Regionalentwicklung angebracht erscheinen." (Autorenreferat

Spatial Proximity and Firm Survival in a Declining Industrial District: The Case of Knitwear Firms in Baden-Wu¨rttemberg

The literature on small firm networks in industrial districts postulates the importance of territorial proximity for business innovation and regional development, but empirical research to test this proposition is sparse. While there is some research on the extent of interfirm co-operation, little is known about the performance outcomes of co-operation. I develop competing hypotheses from institutional, ecological and random action theories concerning the survival chances of firms located in geographic proximity, and test them with data on the complete population of knitwear firms in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, for the period from 1960 to 1998. Proportional hazard estimates show that location in clusters of firms in the same industry increased business failure rates, and location in diversified clusters of firms operating in complementary industries reduced failure rates. The empirical results are most consistent with the ecological model of localized competition in resource environments. La documentation sur les réseaux de petites entreprises dans les districts industriels affirme l'importance de la proximité géographique pour ce qui est de l'innovation d'entreprise et de l'aménagement du territoire. Toujours est-il que la recherche empirique qui vient à l'appui de cette affirmation s'avère limitée. Alors qu'il y a de la recherche sur la portée du partenariat interentreprise, les résultats d'un tel partenariat sont plutôt inconnus. A partir des théories institutionnelles, écologiques et relatives au événements au hasard, on construit des hypothèses rivaux concernant le taux de survie des entreprises situées les unes près des autres. Employant des données allant de 1960 à 1998 et provenant du nombre total des fabricants de tricots situés dans la Baden-Württemburg, en Allemagne, on met les hypothèses à l'épreuve. Les estimations proportionnelles des risques montrent que la localisation des entreprises du même secteur en grappes augmente le taux de faillite, et que la localisation des entreprises des secteurs complémentaires réduit le taux de faillite. Les résultats empiriques correspondent au modèle écologique de la concurrence localisée en milieux caractérisés par la disponibilité des ressources. Die Literatur über Netzwerke von kleinen Firmen in industriellen Distrikten postuliert die Bedeutung der räumlichen Nähe für geschäftliche Innovation und Regionalentwicklung, doch empirische Untersuchungen zur Überprüfung dieser These sind rar. Es gibt zwar einige Arbeiten über das Ausmass der kooperativen Zusammenarbeit unter Firmen, doch wenige Studien über die Erfolgsergebnisse der Zusammenarbeit. Der Autor leitet aus institutionalistischen, ökologischen und Zufall basierten Theorien gegensätzliche Hypothesen bezüglich der Überlebenschancen von Firmen ab, deren Standorte sich in geographischer Nähe zu einander befinden, und überprüft sie mit Hilfe von Daten über die gesamte Population von Strickwarenunternehmen in Baden-Württemberg/Deutschland im Zeitraum 1960-1998. Proportionalitätsriskoschätzungen zeigen, dass Standorte in räumlichen Clustern von Firmen der gleichen Industriebranche die Häufigkeit von Firmenschliessungen steigerten, und dass Standorte in einem diversifizierten Cluster von Firmen in komplementären Industriezweigen die Rate der Schliessungen reduzierten. Die empirischen Ergebnisse stimmen weitgehendst mit dem ökologischen Modell örtlich beschränkten Wettbewerbs in Ressourcenumwelten überein.Industrial District, Small Firm Network, Geographic Proximity, Business Survival, Textile Industry, District Industriel, Reseaux De Petites Entreprises, Proximite Geographique, Survie Des Entreprises, Industrie Du Textile, Industrieller Distrikt, Kleinfirmennetzwerk, Geographische Nahe, Firmenfortbestand, Textili,

Network Evolution in Cultural Industries

Most of the research on social networks in cultural industries has taken an actor-centered perspective on individuals and organizations, often based on the (implicit) assumption of relative stability in actor attributes and relationships. This poses problems for an understanding of networks in a cultural context that is characterized by spontaneity, variation, and disequilibrium. To give more credit to processes related to “doing creative work”, I propose an evolutionary framework that focuses on ideas as the unit of analysis and draws attention to the dynamic distribution of ideas in an environment where ideas compete for human attention.Social network, evolution, idea, creativity,

Partners Forever? An Empirical Study of Relational Ties in Two Small-firm Clusters

Many researchers take as axiomatic the proposition that economic action in clusters is embedded in dense, durable and trust-based social networks. It is suggested here that the bias towards high-trust, enduring relations obscures the competitive dynamics of networks, even where co-operation can be identified. Drawing attention to the competitive motives underlying the construction of social networks, an investigation is made into the duration and brokering of dyadic relations in business owners' advice networks. The analysis of 668 dyadic ties in a population of 113 small business owners in two textile and clothing clusters in Germany reveals considerable variation in the duration of social relations and the likelihood that they were formed through third-party brokers, many of whom were direct competitors creating more ephemeral links. The findings suggest that 'marketless' conceptions of social networks in clusters need to be balanced with a stronger concern for the role of competition in the social embeddedness of small firms.

The Structure of Networks in Industrial Districts

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. Copyright Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2001.