Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Daniele Schilirò
Author-Email: schi.unime@katamail.com
Title: I distretti industriali in Italia quale Modello di Sviluppo Locale: Aspetti evolutivi, potenzialità e criticità 
Abstract: The essay focuses on three main topics. The first one concerns the charac-teristics of the model of local development in Italy, based on the industrial districts, and the increasing weight of these districts in the economic sys-tem. Moreover, the evolution and the transformation of the industrial dis-tricts is analyzed, emphasizing their points of strength and of weakness. One proposition that derives from this analysis is that any theoretical study on industrial districts must take into account the analysis of social and cul-tural environments, of institutions and of territory. The second topic regards the competitiveness of this Italian industrial development model, based on PMI that belong to the industrial districts and on medium enterprises, which is founded on the specialization of productions, on innovation and interna-tionalization. The proposition maintained in this essay, in accordance with that expressed in Fortis and Quadrio Curzio (2006), is that such a model of industrial districts, well represented by the so called “Made in Italy”, is a strong and dynamic system which has shown good performances and it is still representing a paradigm of lasting competitiveness, even if it is re-strained by many external chronic constraints. The third topic concerns the issue of how and why to replicate the «industrial districts» in Sicily, which is a region not enough developed, where it seems clear the necessity of transforming the human capital into social capital, and also where some necessary pre-conditions for the development, regarding the infrastructures and the institutions, must be carried out . 
Keywords: industrial districts; local development; innovation; internationalization; specialization of production; social capital
Classification-JEL: J24 L1 O3,    
Creation-Date: 2008
File-URL: http://centridiricerca.unicatt.it/cranec_crn0803.pdf
File-Format: Application/PDF
Number: crn0803        
Handle: RePEc:crn:wpaper:crn0803