Industrial Districts - Inter-firm networks, entrepreneurial agency and institutions

This Book is meant to be an aid to teaching and researching in the field of industrial districts, with a strategic management perspective. Its purpose is to review and comment the literature on industrial district, from its inception to contemporary contributions. The book moves from the concept of industrial district developed by Marshall, complementing it with a review on the main contributions of Italian scholars. The first part of the book focuses on the literature on inter-firm networks and firms in industrial districts, recasting the debate on the central role of entrepreneurial agency within districts. The second part addresses the literature on the governance of industrial districts by local institutions, offering a theoretical framework for future investigations on this issue. The third part illustrates some case studies of industrial districts, district firms, inter-firm networks and the role of local institutions, supporting the reader with guiding questions for analysis and discussion.

Indice

Foreword, of Alessandro Sinatra	5
Introduction, of Fernando Alberti	7
Part One. Firms and inter-firm networks in industrial districts	13
1. Industrial districts: inter-firm networks and entrepreneurial agency, of Fernando Alberti	15
References	45
Part Two. Institutions and governance issue in industrial districts	59
2. The governance of industrial districts: theory and empirical evidence, of Fernando Alberti	61
References	99

Part Three. Case studies on districts, firms, networks, institutions	113
3. Goodbye path-dependence. The formation of the medical device industry in Mirandola, of Fernando Alberti	115
4. From tradition to fragmentation? The silk industrial district of Como, of Fernando Alberti	135
5. Weaving local institutions: governance issues in the wool district of Biella, of Davide Moro	159
Concluding remarks. The promise of an intra-firm perspective in industrial district research	183
6. Beyond the crossroads: dynamic capabilities and the agency - structure dialectic in industrial district research, of Carlo Salvato	185
References	194