Search results for "industrial district"
showing 10 items of 23 documents
Is the influence of the industrial district on international activities being eroded by globalization?
2009
Abstract This study provides insight into the impact of industrial districts on the international activities of firms, in the particular context of one traditional manufacturing industry: the Spanish home-textile industry. Using a sample of 128 manufacturing firms, the paper shows how location influences the timing and levels of exports and imports. Moreover, our results demonstrate how these influences have been diluted in recent years as the home-textile industry becomes more involved in the global arena. Our findings challenge some key arguments exploring the advantages of the district in the international activities of firms; in particular, first, in questioning the capacity of the dist…
The Influence of Business Ecosystems on Innovation-Based Industries: A Research on the Mechanical Sector in Italy
2018
The business ecosystem perspective can be considered as a more advanced point of view for interpreting the development of local economic systems, if compared to more traditional concepts such as clusters, industrial districts, local or regional systems, and local networks. The business ecosystem perspective allows to better highlight the adaptive and evolutionary nature of local systems in front of the changing external environment and dynamics on national and international markets. The aim of the research was to analyze the key characteristics of firms belonging to a local business ecosystem specialized on an innovation-driven industry – the mechanical sector – in order to verify which kin…
Pathways of Innovation: The I-District Effect Revisited
2018
The I-district effect establishes the existence of dynamic efficiency in Marshallian industrial districts in the form of a positive innovative differential comparing to the average of the economy. The hypothesis has been empirically validated for the case of technological innovation using patent indicators. Empirical research has assumed that all types of patentable figures (utility models, national patents, EPO, WIPO) have the same weight regardless of its actual or expected market value, which may be questionable given the differences in coverage, protection and cost of each figure. In this article, we question the existence of the I-district effect when each patent is weighted by its exp…
Is an anarchist business organization possible? Textile firms in the industrial district of Alcoi during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39)
2019
espanolDurante la Guerra Civil Espanola, en el lado republicano, estallo una revolucion social, liderada por los trabajadores y sus sindicatos que termino en muchos lugares en un proceso de colectivizacion empresarial. En la ciudad de Alcoi, el sindicato anarquista tomo el control de mas de 100 empresas textiles familiares, pasando por un proceso de racionalizacion que unifico la produccion de todas las empresas textiles para superar una crisis de produccion anterior y atender la demanda de guerra. ?El caso de Alcoi durante la Guerra Civil demuestra la posibilidad de una organizacion empresarial anarquista exitosa? Este articulo trata de comprender el desarrollo de los negocios sin una orga…
Productive Efficiency and Territorial Externalities in Small and Medium-Sized Industrial Firms: A Dynamic Analysis of the District Effect
2012
A series of works have analysed differential behaviour in terms of productive efficiency between companies inside a hypothetical industrial district and those outside the district. This objective has been addressed using measures of technical efficiency. The results obtained provide valuable information for quantifying the district effect at a given moment in time. However, constant changes in the market and business behaviour mean that it is worthwhile studying the business district effect from a dynamic point of view. In this study, we provide this new vision through the use of Malmquist productivity indices. This methodology enables us to analyse possible differential evolutions by compa…
Industrial decline and resilience in the European Mediterranean periphery. Territorial and sectoral analysis in the region of Valencia (Spain) during…
2019
El descenso del sector industrial en la economía de la Comunitat Valenciana durante las dos últimas décadas ha sido muy acusado, ya que pasó del 25% del VAB en 1995 a menos del 17% en 2013. Este declive se explica por los cambios estructurales que tuvo que afrontar con la llegada del nuevo milenio para adaptarse a los nuevos patrones de producción y consumo propios de la globalización, que se vieron agravados por la crisis financiera de 2007. A partir de un enfoque por sectores y, a la vez, por territorios, se lleva a cabo un análisis de la evolución reciente de la industria valenciana. Se observa como el modelo predominante de esta industria sigue siendo el distrito industrial endógeno, si…
On How Firms Located in an Industrial District Profit from Knowledge Spillovers: Adoption of an Organic Structure and Innovation Capabilities
2011
The canonical approach argues that firms located in industrial districts enjoy advantages for both innovation and performance as a consequence of the exceptionally strong knowledge spillovers that flow freely and spontaneously within them. However, diffusion of shared competences is not as easy and free as postulated in the literature. Using the resource-based view, we study whether clustered firms perform better than non-clustered firms, by providing empirical evidence that location of firms in an industrial district does not directly create innovation capabilities or economic rents. This research question is important because it enables us to better understand how firms benefit from this …
Discussing the Concepts of Cluster and Industrial District
2016
The significance and popularity of the cluster and industrial district concepts claim for a deeper reflection. The analysis of one of the European Commission’s (EC) policy documents shows inconsistencies that do not impede the formulation of normative statements. That way we answer the question of why and how cluster ideas have substituted industrial district principles and the consequences derived from that phenomenon.
The Dynamic Evolution of the Proximity Effect in the Textile Industry
2011
This paper tests the evolution of the relationship between localization and proximity and their effect on firm performance for a sample of 10,490 Spanish textile firms in the period 2001–2006. Using coefficients of specialization two levels of geographical disaggregation are distinguished: (i) the provincial cluster and (ii) the industrial district. The results obtained show a positive and significant impact of the specialization level on productivity, both for industrial districts and provincial clusters (in this case only when the levels of specialization are high enough). In general, the effect is higher for industrial districts than for provincial clusters, although in both cases it dec…
How does diversity affect district innovation systems?Findings from a comparative study of european ceramics
2018
This research applies Nelson’s (1993) primary typology of enterprises to understand why the propensity for innovation varies across ceramics district innovation systems in Europe. We use innovation systems and industrial district theories to explore the innovation capacity of the two most important ceramic tile industrial districts in Europe—Emilia Romagna in Italy and Castellon in Spain. Our analysis shows that, in both districts, innovation plays a decisive role in allowing companies to maintain competitiveness in a globalizing market. However, by comparing the composition of their district innovation systems, our analysis shows that: (i) although levels of competition in both districts a…