Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
consequence of globalization processes - by some traditional
Italian industrial districts operating in
Made in Italy
industries,
such as the leather
filières
located in and around the cities of
Verona and Florence (Belussi 2010; Bacci et al. 2010).
(15) The transformation from a trust-based to a competence-
based social network is typical of certain sub-sectors within
the global semiconductor and electronics industry such as - as
seen above - the early post-war development of Silicon Valley,
the development of Silicon Fen around Cambridge UK, and of
some electronics and life-science industries in Emilia-Romagna.
Indeed, one particular aspect that emerges from the copious
empirical evidence on the Emilia-Romagna case - one of
the most celebrated examples of regional innovation system's
upgrading and opening (e.g., Castells and Hall 1994; Braczyk et
al. 1998; Hall 1998; Cooke et al. 1997; Belussi et al. 2008, 2010)
- is the presence of multiples evolutionary trajectory that have
blended together the two typologies of social networks identified
by our taxonomy.
(16) Example of clusters which have maintained their trust-based
system over time include again some of the small Italian industrial
districts, such as the clothing and shoes sectors in and around
the cities of Ancona and Teramo (Sammarra 2010).
Source:
Adapted from Iammarino and McCann 2010.
do not point to any particular pattern of cluster characteristics
or evolutionary trajectories. Indeed, the technological, knowledge
and transactional characteristics of the clusters are what deter-
mines cluster and regional types, rather than technology content
dichotomies, and it is the changes in these technological, knowledge
and transactional features which determine spatial and industrial
evolutions.
Similarly, the well-known cases of the Italian 'industrial districts'
are far from being straightforward or homogeneous. For example, if
we consider the transformation of the Italian industrial districts in the
light of the process of internationalization in which outsourcing and
offshoring becomes increasingly widespread, we may indeed argue
that 'the industrial district has often proved to be rather a “stage”
in one of the possible different paths of industrialization' (Becattini
