Role of external knowledge flows in cluster upgrading: an empirical analysis of the Mirandola biomedical district in Italy

The paper analyses the role of external knowledge flows in the upgrading of the biomedical district of Mirandola, Emilia-Romagna region, in Italy. The district produces two types of products, namely disposables and electromedical machines, and the paper considers this second production type. The Mirandola district has been able to maintain a relatively good competitive position. The paper shows that while all firms in this sector in this region tend to have fairly good performance in terms of size and revenue growth, a significant difference exists in terms of innovation performance. Firms in the Mirandola district produce more patents and more scientific publications. From a methodological point of view, negative binomial regressions are made on the determinants of patenting and publishing activity by firms. Two major factors seem to explain the superior performance in terms of innovation. First, the significant role of the leader firms in the district. Second, linkages external to the district, namely relationships with research centres (universities in particular) located not only in the region but also in the rest of the country and abroad. The importance of external relations and institutional diversity (in terms of variety of institutions collaborating in scientific publications), appear to grow over time.Innovation; Upgrading; Industrial districts; Biomedical sector

Outsourcing and Information Management.

This paper compares outsourcing processes in France, Italy and Japan in two types of firms, large firms and also small firms. It is shown that outsourcing has increased over the last two decades in both small and large firms in all three countries and that mainly in the last decade the tendency has been to increasingly involve some of the suppliers in product development. We interpret this evidence by means of a cognitive framework related to the activity of information management. Specifically, we show that the more the relationships among suppliers and users are characterised by two-way communication, decentralised information processing, and accordingly balanced contractual power, the more the incentives to create knowledge and to innovate autonomously are guaranteed.Firm size; Information; Network; Outsourcing

Conceptualisations, relationships and trends between innovation, competitiveness and development: industrial policy beyond the crisis

This chapter provides some thoughts on industrial policy based on a long-range research by the authors. This research suggests that the crisis reveals long-term structural changes in the economy, which firms in all sectors have to face and which require government intervention. We suggest that adequate industrial policies have to be defined in a holistic manner, as systemic approaches to industrial development

Industrial Policy after the Crisis: Seizing the Future

The book analyses the the lessons that can be drawn from the global financial crisis for the study, definition and implementation of industrial policy. A political economy framework is used to examine industrial development post-crisis, centred on the organisation of production and stessing its importance for the wealth of nations

Structural Transformations in Industry and Filières

Cet article suggère que les changements significatifs de l’extension des marchés induits par la globalisation appellent à un renouveau de l’analyse de l’organisation de la production et des filières industrielles afin de mieux comprendre l’évolution des industries. Après une revue des changements structurels, nous discutons quelques concepts et approches existants dans la littérature et utiles à l’étude des processus de production ; nous considérons les filières, les chaînes globales de valeur et les systèmes sectoriels de production et d’innovation.Nous montrons que ces approches apparaissent utiles à l’analyse de l’organisation de la production et pourraient être utilisées pour mieux comprendre les grands changements structurels auxquels l’industrie est confrontée depuis des décennies. Cela permettrait aussi d’établir des recommandations de politiques industrielles plus précises.This paper argues that the large changes in the extension of markets implied by globalisation call for a renewed analysis of production organisation and the filieres in which firms produce and sell products, in order to better understand structural changes in industries. After a review of structural changes, we briefly discuss some of the concepts and approaches existing in the literature to study production processes; of these, we consider the filière, global value chains and sectoral systems of innovation and production.All these approaches are useful to provide detailed analyses of the organisation of production within the firm and outside, with their networks of suppliers. However, they do not represent theories that could help predict in what circumstances certain specialisations or technological developments could be preferred. All approaches however appear to be complementary in deriving industrial policy implications. A deeper reflection on the way in which these approaches can be used to provide insights on structural changes appear therefore useful in order to derive precise industrial policy recommendations

Structural transformations in clusters: the cases of biomedical and ceramics

En mettant l’accent sur les questions d’innovation et d’internationalisation, cet article étudie deux cas particuliers qui illustrent les tendances mises en évidence dans la littérature concernant les changements structurels des clusters et districts. Le district produisant des carrelages en céramique de Sassuolo se caractérise par une internationalisation basée sur des capacités autonomes. Le cluster biomédical de Mirandola se caractérise par une internationalisation basée sur des alliances avec des leaders externes. L’innovation et l’investissement en capital tangible et intangible sont fondamentaux dans les deux cas : les processus de production et les stratégies de distribution dans le cas de Sassuolo, et les capacités d’innovation et de collaboration avec les universités et autres centres de recherche dans le cas de Mirandola, ont permis aux deux clusters d’intégrer les marchés mondiaux. Une variété de stratégies est donc possible pour les districts et clusters afin de répondre aux défis compétitifs actuels. Les changements structurels en cours dans les industries sont complexes et les politiques industrielles qui supportent le renouvellement et le développement industriels doivent en tenir compte.We examine two particular cases that illustrate the tendencies outlined in the literature regarding the structural changes arising in clusters and districts, focusing on innovation and internationalisation. The ceramic tile district of Sassuolo is characterised by internationalisation through own capacity. The biomedical cluster in Mirandola is characterised by internationalisation via alliances with external leaders. Innovation and investment in tangible and intangible assets play a role in both processes: production processes and distribution strategies in Sassuolo, R&D capacity and researchcollaboration with universities and research centres in Mirandola allowed both clusters to integrate world markets. This shows the variety of strategies available to industrial districts and clusters in facing competitive challenges. Structural changes arising in industries are varied and complex, and industrial policy supporting industrial upgrading and development should take it into account

Introduction

Manufacturing still matters and will continue to be an important contributor to growth and economic development. Recent research has pointed to this fact. The manufacturing sector creates value added, contributes to a country’s exports and innovation (McKinsey, 2012). In the last thirty years the idea that the service sector increasingly was becoming the most important sector in terms of job creation, value added and contribution to growth progressively diffused for a number of reasons. First..

Relazioni tra imprese e università nel biotech-salute dell'Emilia Romagna. Una valutazione sulla base della co-authorship delle pubblicazioni scientifiche

Questo lavoro analizza il tema delle collaborazioni tra istituti di ricerca e imprese e le loro evoluzioni recenti, evidenziando il ruolo che può avere in un tale tipo di analisi un indicatore relativamente poco utilizzato, almeno in Italia: le pubblicazioni a firma congiunta. Il campo di osservazione sono le imprese dell’Emilia Romagna che lavorano nel settore della salute utilizzando le biotecnologie. L’analisi riguarda l’impatto che le dimensioni d’impresa hanno sulle collaborazioni con università, ospedali ed altre imprese; l’ambito territoriale delle collaborazioni; la struttura delle reti di collaborazione; le relazioni tra questi fattori e la qualità delle pubblicazioni stesse. Da queste osservazioni empiriche si cerca quindi di trarre delle implicazioni in termini di lineamenti di policy a livello locale

The determinants of research quality in Italy. Empirical evidence using Bibliometric data in the biotech sector

Does the collaboration between firms and universities or other research organisations improves the quality of research? Why do firms collaborate with public research organisations? The rising importance of university- industry collaboration over the last twenty years makes this question a relevant one. We therefore analyse the relationships between firms and universities using data on firms’ publications in scientific journals. Among all channels through which the relationships between universities and firms are built, joint scientific publications appear to be an important but yet little explored one, especially as regards Italy. We consider the case of the biotechnology sector in Italy. Our aim is to analyse the behaviour of the firms with respect to publications and innovation, in order to shed new insights on the peculiarities of the Italian innovation system and the possible policy implications. For this purpose we built a database of all scientific publications of Italian biotechnology firms over the period 1990 to 2006 and we provide evidence on the institutional and geographic nature of publication networks and on the determinants of research quality. We find that the collaboration with universities and international partners, especially if the research networks are large and varied, increases the research quality. We also begun to collect data on firm size from 1997 to 2006, in order to confront them with the data on publications: our preliminary analysis shows that larger firms have a higher propensity to publish, however small (but not micro) firms publish very high quality paper

Estudio de 258 Prematuros en el Primer Año de Vida

The aim of this paper is to review the articles published in the journal L’Industria over the last 30 years, focusing on issues related to industrial policy. Articles published in the journal have both analysed the characteristics of Italian industry and discussed industrial policy implications. Attention has never been exclusively turned to the Italian case: industry in other countries has been considered, not only in Europe but also elsewhere in the world, in Asia and America. Foreign cases are used as examples to follow or as analyses of partners of or markets for Italian firms. Regarding industrial policy, three phases can be identified in this review. The first 10 years (in the 1980s) discussed the « dirigiste » or « interventionist » type of industrial policy, whereby governments directly intervened in markets by command-and-control and by buying also producers. The second decade, that of the 1990s, saw the adoption of a new approach to industrial policy, whereby governments no longer directly intervene in markets but rather induce behaviour by appropriate incentives and, in terms of structural policy, provide the conditions for competitiveness. These phases correspond to the phases of industrial policy implemented in Italy and the EU. The 21st century starts with a new phase of industrial policy, that this paper tries to characterise by looking at the papers published in L’Industria. The main conclusion is that the new industrial policies are still in the process of being defined in the real world, perhaps waiting for industrial economists to provide guidance. Economists and policy-makers writing in the journal stress that in the current context new models have to be built and new solutions have to be suggested. We add that a number of issues has to be examined for solutions to be proposed