Perspectives on Mature Marshallian Industrial Districts

Industrial districts growing in various industrialized countries and regions after the golden age of mass production, in the second half of the twentieth century, have shown a re-emergence of forces of local development. The success stories, in particular those more peculiar and consistent as forms of industrial and social organization, like many Italian cases, have asked and favored the definition of apposite concepts and frames of interpretations. A strong basis of theoretical refinement was extracted from Alfred Marshall’s reflections on the role and working of industrial districts before the golden age of mass production. A well-known refinement is the model of the so-called Marshallian industrial district (MID). Sustained trajectories of success gravitating around the logic of such model have resulted in what may be intended as cases of typical mature industrial districts. They have been confronting since the end of the last century with the effects of a new wave of globalization challenges. It is argued in this paper that MID general structural and dynamic characters encompass a large set of empirical cases, in particular those of typical mature IDs reacting progressively, in terms of innovation and internationalization, to contemporary challenges and de-maturing. They find their way and combine old and new characters, still within the model. However, the MID’s borders may be trespassed as well, as the MID logic coalesces with other logics of industrial and social organization.Marshallian industrial districts; contemporary innovation and internationalization challenges

Regions, Nations and Beyond In Marshallian External Economies

The clearest expressions of Marshallian external economies are found in the life and working of compact industrial districts. However Alfred Marshall did not limit their application to such types of places, nor to their territorial scale. This paper illustrates some important extensions found in Marshall’s works, particularly in Industry and Trade, concerning firstly the advantages accruing to industrial districts within larger industrial regions and national contexts. The concept of a national capital including technical, human and social resources, or of a “Marshallian capital” as Silvio Goglio proposed to call it, plays a pivotal role in suggesting both the common nature of the different expressions and scales of Marshallian external economies, and the possible interrelation between them. Processes and conditions associated by Marshall to either non place-bound or distant trans-local contexts of external economies are considered too. An implicit and open multi-territorial framework emerges. Some of its different meanings are discussed in the conclusions of this paper with the help of interpreta-tions of industrial districts, regions, nations, and global networks developed after Mar-shall, starting from those of Austin Robinson and Giacomo Becattini.External economies; Alfred Marshall; industrial districts, regions and nations

Towards a framework for the evaluation of policies of cluster upgrading and innovation

In the current scenario, a large and growing number of policies for local development and cluster upgrading explicitly incorporate the idea of innovation as a systemic process, embedded in specific socio-cultural and institutional contexts and intermingled with international challenges, opportunities, and strategies. These policies bring new challenges to the activities of analysis and evaluation: despite the diffusion of a systemic approach both in innovation thinking and in innovation policies, a proper system-based framework for the analysis and evaluation of these policies is far from being achieved (Bellandi and Caloffi, 2010). Trying to advance our reflection on this field, we propose some exemplifications on a quite delimited set of contexts, i.e. those of industrial districts (Italian, in particular), characterized by SMEs clusters facing contemporary globalization challenges. Focusing on innovation policies aimed at supporting functional upgrading of districts and clusters soaked in changing international filières and value chains, the paper discusses the meaning of evaluation of industrial policies when a systemic perspective is considered. On such premises a couple of exemplifications are illustrate some features of appropriate evaluation methods. Finally, some methodological aspects concerning the design process of evaluation activities are discussed.Evaluation of policies; systemic approaches to evaluation; innovation and cluster policies; industrial districts

The Cluster Experience In China

industrial clusters, China, local development

Forms of Industrial Development in Chinese Specialized Towns: An Italian Perspective

The fast rise of made in China in international markets has raised concern, among others, in the SME clusters of Italian industrial districts. The several cases of specialized towns (i.e. localities characterized by the presence of a specific cluster) in the China more dynamic regions exemplify a rich variety of factors supporting industrial growth, some of them based in cluster and local relations, other ones in international business strategies. This article presents two specific contributions. Firstly, it is proposed an advancement in the understanding of cluster forms of industrial development in China new industries, through a statistical analysis on a set of specialized towns of the Guangdong Province. The analysis is led by hypotheses generated and discussed on the basis of models of local and cluster development incorporating the experience of Italian industrial districts. Secondly, it is suggested the application of the empirical results to the reflection on business and policy reactions in Italian industrial districts to the international competitive challenge

Giacomo Becattini, a great contemporary political economist

Giacomo Becattini (1927-2017) was a political economist, in the extended meaning of the term. Both the prominence and the peculiarity of his scholarly contribution come from the combination of four intellectual passions, enriched by his sharp intelligence and extraordinary eloquence. The first intellectual passion was his concern to decipher and understand the inner connexions running between economy and society, and shaping the destiny of various forms of human organization in contemporary c..