n° 13 - April 2000

 

 

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Programme for the next two years 

(During its last meeting, the Governing Board of the Districts' Club appointed Virgilio Bugatti, Managing Director of Pinti Inox and Director of the Lumetel agency, as its new President. This was his acceptance speech. Ed.) "

As I prepare to take over the role of President, I do so with enthusiasm but, at the same time, with a feeling of responsibility. Enthusiasm because, as a businessman in one of Italy's historic districts, i.e. Lumezzane, I wish the Club could help to diffuse, at a national level, the values that are at the base of the success of our districts; values that include the desire to take risks, to undertake ventures, and to invest in companies which are not just the patrimony of a family but also of the district itself.
Responsibility because districts too are affected by the processes of globalisation and innovation that are transforming our economies and they must prepare themselves as best as possible to adapt to these challenges. In this sense, the Club must play an important role in terms of offering leadership and support at a local level. Over the next few weeks I shall be working with my colleagues on the programmes to be followed which, however, shall be along the lines that have brought us this far.
Now I shall do no more than give a general indication of the manner with which I should like to interpret the mandate I have been charged with, a manner that is entwined with the history of our district and our agency. It is our duty to encourage transformation of the districts, to make communications and logistics more fluid, to encourage investments in knowledge by means of a greater contribution to research, training, experimentation and professionalism, to relaunch investments in infrastructure, to defend local identities and the quality of life, and to encourage processes of sectorial diversification with the development of non-traditional activities.
It is right that attempts to make new contacts and connections are encouraged and, at the same time, that the current sectors of specialisation are supported. We have to accelerate the transition to the society of information and telecommunications. Electronic commerce will alter the parameters of space and time that our districts are based on and therefore the processes of diffusion of communications and interconnection technologies between companies will be determining.
The Club will give full support to the projects that share these aims and will set up channels of dialogue with all the institutions that are able to contribute to strengthen district economies. I am sure that the presence of Innocenzo Cipolletta will open the road to close collaboration between Confindustria and the Club. Districts must not limit themselves exclusively to sectorial issues or to small companies. For some time their efforts have been recognised as being one of the most important motors of our economy and consequently they merit attention and powers suited to their role and the challenges they must face. I thank you and hope to discharge the task you have entrusted to me adequately. To you, but particularly to the Club and to myself, I wish the greatest success".

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Club meeting 

(The annual meeting of the Club was held on 18 February which opened with the report of the outgoing President, Paolo Sarti. The following pages contain extracts of the report. Ed) I have become affectionately tied to the Boot Museum as a result of the singular manner in which it has succeeded in presenting itself as the economic and cultural "flag" of the district of Montebelluna; the museum not only represents the fascinating history of sports footwear but is also a centre of dynamism, an agency of development and an office of representation.
I am sure that we would all like to have an institution, a foundation, like the Boot Museum in our districts. The activity of the District Club finds its slot in the process initiated ten years ago with law 317/1991. Article 36 opened a small window on a new way in which industrial politics was carried out; unfortunately, the course of these long years has not followed the route we had imagined. The District Club was formed in 1994 to give a boost to that process. It officially opened in Carpi with a "manifesto for industrial politics" that asked for levels of central industrial policies to be brought closer to local levels.
This was not a request for consideration for this district only, nor was it a request that concerned only "industrial districts", it was aimed at all "local systems" in Italy and implied a new manner of practising industrial politics at a territorial level and the empowerment of the community that lived within that territory. The District Club is a small but determined organisation, a movement of opinion that undertakes public relations for industrial districts which, do not forget, are one of the great motors that power the Italian economy.
As you can imagine, it is not easy for a small organisation to budge the Italian political world! Fortunately, during the course of its activities the Club has met with a number of sympathisers, journalists, researchers, administrators, agencies and other organisations that have doggedly supported with us the need for industrial policies based on business structures.
During the last annual meeting, the Governor of the Bank of Italy observed that "the grouping of specialised activities in districts stimulates the innovation of products and working techniques; it stimulates professionalism and the mobility of workers, and it encourages new enterprises. The benefits felt on the managerial and information planes increase the capabilities of production to respond to the oscillations of demand". This authoritative appreciation of the districts encourages all of us to continue.
Up to today, very little has been done for policies that encourage the development of districts of medium and small companies but lately there has been an acceleration of this process and, ten years on from law 317, something is finally changing. In 1997, there was an attempt to force the Regions to do more for districts (the "Bersani" DL 266 in 1997). Shortly after the Bassanini laws were passed and responsibility for industrial politics was transferred to the Regions.
The decree for liberalisation of the electric energy market (DL 79 of 16/3/99) opened the road to consortia of companies and many districts quickly organised themselves along these lines: the consortia currently recognised as being suitable clients are now 63 in number and are mostly initiatives linked to districts. Despite the high minimum thresholds of corporate consumption to participate in such a consortium (1 million kWh), a significant slice of the free market being formed (about 15%) is represented by the district consortia. The most interesting fact is that of a total of 2,232 sample customers among the eligible ones, 1292 (over 50%) are consortia of businesses that mostly operate in the districts.
Another step forward was taken with law 140/1999 which finally freed us from the noose of the statistical parameters fixed in 1993. Together with the single fund for industry, this re-awoke the interest of the Regions which are now showing more courage. Tuscany has redrawn the map of its districts, creating 12 out of the original 7, Marche is about to alter its district programmes, and even Emilia Romagna has adopted specific plans for districts and local systems. The same climate is abroad in the south of Italy where Puglia, Campania and Basilicata are considering plans for the development of their districts.
Abruzzo, Lombardy and Piedmont are more advanced having drawn up their district development plans some time ago. Now a new chapter is dawning: the chapter of contents, comparison and experimentation. We must set aside a period to refine the operational tools of the districts but I believe that shortly we will have a register filled with tools, cases and plans. But, in the end, much will depend on us and our direct commitment if this chapter is to provide positive results. The Club, first under the guidance of my friend Enrico Botto Paola, and then myself, has invested much of its resources in this direction and is currently busy on three fronts:

  1. the constitution of a company to more effectively perform the main role in the definition of policies for local development and strengthening of districts; we are proposing to create a company (District Lab) able to carry out focused actions in the fields of analysis, training, accompaniment, monitoring and planning of district policies;

  2. the organisation of training and focusing of developmental policies for the districts whether for those already in existence or those which are being formed in the south of Italy;

  3. the direct participation with functions of responsibility in the International Club of Local Clusters with which we are aiming to set up a dialogue with the European Commission; among others, the Club will participate in the European project "Envirdis" to support technological innovation in districts.

The assemblies examine, comment upon and approve the Association's balance. Here I would like to outline one that relates to the activity undertaken. Besides the adjustment of the free market for electrical energy, among the entries on the active side I would like to underline the results achieved in terms of visibility and credibility: a credibility that has enabled us to join in with the Presidency of the Council, the Ministers of Industry and Foreign Trade, parliamentary commissions, the Electrical Energy Authority, the co-ordination of the Regions, the economic press and our European partners.
It is to this "greater" credibility, dynamism and fellow-feeling that we owe the collaboration of the ICE; together we have decided to bring together once a year the businessmen in the districts to discuss the prospects for Italian production. We met with discreet success in Mantua when Prof. Onida and Minister Fassino were present, and in a few weeks we will meet ICE management to draw up the next event. Before presenting the proposals of the Council of the Presidency for the renewal of social posts, allow me to run through the activities of the Club during the last year, skipping over participation in a long list of conferences and public events dedicated to districts.

  • participation at the Industry and Production Activities Commissions of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies on the liberalisation of the electric energy market (18 January);

  • seminars on the liberalisation of the electric energy market with speakers from Minindustria and the Energy Authority (8 March and 3 May);

  • recording with ICE of a CD on industrial districts published in 3 languages (Italian, English and Spanish); the CD met with so much success that ICE and the Club have decided to produce a second version in French and German;

  • participation at the exhibition "Argentina e Italia, Paises in movimiento" in Buenos Aires (10-16 May);

  • convention organised by the Ministry of Industry to clarify the situation on the policies for districts in light of the novelties introduced in the national and regional normative framework (7 July);

  • contribution to the works of the Pmi Observatory of the Presidency of the Council, a collaboration launched after the congress organised with the President of the Council in March 1998 in Milan; the board (on which the Regional Co-ordination, the District Club, relative associations, the trade unions and the relevant ministries are represented), is organising a large event (a conference with the Ministry of Industry and the Presidency of the Council) to relaunch district policies;

  • the convention in Mantua "Strengthening districts means strengthening the Italian economy" organised with ICE (24-25 September);

  • constitution of the International Club of Local Clusters in Paris on 25 October of which we have assumed the Presidency;

  • the project with the Faculty of Architecture at Milan Polytechnic to develop the functions of design at district level (January 2000);

  • research on the economic and financial dynamics of a sample of ventures undertaken by Italian districts.

There are 22 districts in the Club. The new Council will examine new applications and those announced. The Club will ratify its basis and, in the new climate created with the new national and regional normatives, will prepare to perform a sharper role. The Statute of the Club requires that new members should be voted to social posts every four years with the exception of the Chairman who should be changed every 2 years.
My mandate expires at the same time as that of my colleagues whom I should like to thank for their collaboration and assistance. I also thank all the members that support the activities of the Club and who have honoured me with the office of President.
In particular I am thinking of those who for geographical reasons have more difficulty in attending our meetings, for example Sassari, Matera etc.). I should like to reassure these members that the well-being of the districts in the south of Italy is dear to the heart of the Club as is demonstrated by the trips of the secretaries office to Campania, Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria and Sicily.

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Electronic trading for districts

The revolution taking place in telecommunications offers new prospects for the creation of new types of market based on the Internet (e-commerce). Use of these innovations is changing the sources of competitive advantage with important consequences for the success of small and medium-sized companies.
In theory, many of the opportunities of electronic markets are within the reach of smaller companies but it is probable that most of them are unable to present themselves on line with adequate visibility to transform their relations with users into an effective promotion and sales tool.
There are objective and subjective barriers linked to lack of visibility (the brand-names of small-medium sized companies are often not known), to the need to invest large sums of money and qualified human resources into individual sites, and to the complexity of logistical aspects linked to product delivery and financial management. Often, however, small-medium sized companies do not operate as isolated entities but are part of territorial systems known as industrial districts; in these cases, their competitive advantage is strengthened by links created between them thanks to physical proximity and division of labour.
E-commerce in industrial districts may represent a powerful engine for development as it is well adapted to certain characteristics of economic systems featuring:

  • a dense trading network between a high number of operators;

  • specialized local markets (work, raw materials, semi-finished products, machinery, auxiliary services etc.);

  • shared product specialization that becomes a part of the territory's image (e.g. marble from Carrara, tiles from Sassuolo, textiles from Biella or Prato etc.);

  • business dynamism.

Districts seem much more suited to the new economy than the individual companies that populate them. Thanks to the high number of companies operating in the same business sector or adjacent sectors, and thanks to the relations these companies form between them, the "district system" permits many of the barriers to be overcome that impede use of these new applications by smaller companies.
Analysis of the potential of e-commerce in districts shows many elements that confirm how useful application of these technologies might be both in relationships between the district companies and the external world and in relationships between the companies in the district.
Windows on the external world In the first case (relationships between the district and the external world), e-commerce provides shop-windows for the products of a large number of companies that operate in the same sector. This enables a type of "trade fair" to be achieved, an appeal in terms of breadth and exhaustiveness of the offer and a comparison of prices that few companies could provide alone.
Search engines and other electronic services facilitate searching for the requested products which, in the districts, encompass a wide slice of Italian production. An electronic district market might be broken down in this way:

  • a directory of the companies with their respective goods and search engines for exact identification;

  • catalogues of products (products that are typical of the district);

  • special offers of products in stock (like high street sales);

  • bids for purchase of raw materials, semi-finished products and services from the external world; in this case, the batches required by individual companies are grouped together to obtain lower prices.

At the same time, an electronic market created for the district might also provide information on the district regarding the main events (commercial, artistic, cultural etc.) and supply notes on the economy, sectors, tourist sites, etc..

Internal e-commerce

Equally interesting applications exist for the business to business sector within each district. A brief analysis reveals a series of opportunities that could increase the competitiveness of the small-medium sized companies and strengthen their capacity to satisfy demand in short periods.
There are various forms of electronic market that can be organized on the basis of the specific needs of the district companies. One of these relates to the stocks of raw materials and semi-finished products in the warehouse that are no longer used due to forecast errors, modifications to product mixes, excessive minimum purchase batches etc. Research has shown that the quantities of such unused stock in districts represent significant costs to companies. There are, therefore, economic justifications for organizing the following at district level to provide economic benefits to the companies:

  • internal bids in which searches for raw materials and semi-finished products are carried out in the database of combined company stock;

  • catalogue sales of the raw materials with the highest rotation;

  • special offers with advertisements offering raw materials and semi-finished products at bargain prices. Currently this type of service is carried out in districts in part by private intermediaries using storage logic (purchases at very low prices).

It is thought that trading of raw materials and semi-finished products stuck in storage could take place if prices guaranteed a saving of 20% to the purchaser while offering a decent margin to the seller (about 20% compared to that realized through traditional channels). The electronic market within the district would also permit the raw materials and semi-finished products necessary for production to be found in a short time span; as a result of geographical proximity, an efficient electronic market of products currently used by district companies might help to solve problems of breakage of stock in supplies (by calibrating batches, making goods available immediately etc.). Stages to implementation The industrial districts' Club hopes that industrial districts will attempt to create electronic district markets with the funds forecast in the attachment to the 2000 financial act (DL 4339) and that district sites will be created that are "open" to the greatest number of small-medium sized companies and that they will be managed by non-profit organizations (industry associations, consortia, Chambers of Commerce etc.). However, beyond all that is written on the magnificent outcomes of the new applications of electronic technologies and telecommunications, for many districts the route is anything but easy.
Each district must invest in analysis and design; it must create groups of companies and convince them to supply information and to invest in software, hardware and connections; it must promote the use of electronic commerce and help companies during the trial phases.
Implementation of this new family of services (that range from electronic sales and purchase to the simplification of paper reports and communications between companies) requires careful and elaborate work analysis in each district to define:

  • the markets that realistically can be created on the Internet (products, classification with estimates of the total transactions value);

  • the configuration of the type of dealing (market rules, brokerage of information, commercial intermediation, security levels, privacy, samples, deliveries etc.);

  • the profile of the organization that will manage the market;

  • practical implementation of the market (hardware, software, graphics, customization etc.);

  • promotion of electronic trading between the small-medium sized companies in the district and with the external world;

  • a financial plan with costs and sources of financing (membership, advertising etc.).

Within this complex activity, the Districts' Club will organize meetings and seminars to compare work methodologies, the results of analyses and the solutions adopted, and the trial phases to exchange experiences and identify the best practices. The Club will also attempt to encourage interconnection of the electronic markets in the various districts so as to promote further business to business trading and render it even more advantageous.

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HANDLING ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN DISTRICTS

The environment and competitiveness

Given the relevance of industrial districts to the economy of the Triveneto, studies have been made on the existing relationship between environmental difficulties and the companies within some of the districts (glasses production around Belluno, seat production in the province of Manzano, porphyry in Trento).
The purpose was to discover whether industrial districts (with their characteristics of company links, a propensity to collaborate, a close relationship with their surrounding environment) experience difficulties in confronting environmental issues without compromising their economic competitiveness. The glasses production district lies in Cadore in a part of the mountainous area of Belluno.
The seat production district has a high density of companies in the areas of Manzano, San Giovanni al Natisone, and Corno di Rosazzo (the so-called "seat triangle"). The porphyry district has grown up in the province of Trento. Excavation of the quarries began in the 1930's and in 1946, some workers from Albiano formed a co-operative to exploit this mineral resource. The investigation focused on samples of companies but the local authorities and district institutions were also approached.
The data gathered were compared to data obtained in analogous studies carried out across the whole of Triveneto. To identify the largest environment-related difficulties, the companies were asked to choose from a list the forms of environmental impact caused by their production.
At the top of the list in the Triveneto was the production of waste and consumption of energy, two topics that have a direct impact on short-term costs. Next, but a little further behind, were air emissions and noise. The seat and glasses production districts, on the other hand, were most concerned with atmospheric emissions. The scale of priorities was not conditioned by short-term profit making factors but elements such as company reputation and the prevention of conflicts.
In the district of Belluno, the emissions were related to the fumes created by welding, painting, firing in the furnaces, paint removal, galvanizing treatments and assembly fumes (micro-welding). In the seat making district, the emissions were related to painting and wood cutting. The porphyry district proved to be a case apart and it was no surprise to find the entire sample responding that their main concern was the consumption of non-renewable resources. The second phenomenon on the list was the impact of their quarrying on the countryside and the surrounding territory.

Environmental pressure in the districts

Next, the companies were asked to mark in order of importance the greatest external pressure of an environmental nature. National legislation is the principal reference point for environmental issues for all companies regardless of their location, but there are other factors. These are related to the relationship between the production site and the local community. In the district of Belluno, for example, the companies are aware of strong pressure from the local inhabitants which has resulted in the companies going beyond the legal limits for air emissions and implementing new instruments and precautions to limit environmental impact even further.
It should be underlined that most of the companies interviewed consider the pressure of their customers to be relevant. Nor should it be forgotten that the glasses production area exports huge quantities of glasses to North America where consumers are more aware of such issues. Environmental protection pressure from the local community is also felt in the seat production area. Some of the companies interviewed replied that relationships with the local residents constituted one of the determining factors in their environmental strategies.
The porphyry companies listed the major environmental pressures on them as coming from national norms, the local population and environmental associations in that order. A characterizing element of the environmental policies of many companies in the industrial districts was that some activities were delegated by individual companies to a collective third party. This way, the companies were able to limit environmental impact more efficiently. For example, the industrial association of Belluno created a special Consortium whose task it is to inform and help companies in dealing with solid waste. In the seat production district, a research institute has been created with the purpose of encouraging the technological development of companies in the sector and also for carrying out tasks related to the environmental management of the district.
The institute helps companies with difficulties linked to the production and diffusion of harmful substances and identifies the preventive measures to be taken. The porphyry companies have set up an organization whose goal it is to optimize extraction activities and to respect the environmental normatives in force. Industrial districts also seem to differentiate themselves from the rest of Italian producers with regard to the management of environmental policies: the advantages deriving from the dense network of collaboration and specialized activities finds a corresponding benefit in dealing with environmental-related problems.
It will be interesting to see how the districts deal with greater environmental pressure as a result of the concentration of production processes. Stefania Borghini, the Eni Enrico Mattei Foundation

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The European network of industrial districts has been formed

The industrial districts of Europe are meeting and beginning to speak the same language. They are focusing on the subtle variations in the curious fan of development models that takes the form of clusters in Britain, production systems in France, and industrial districts in Italy. They also swap and compare experiences in order to create new development directions to follow.
The International Club of Local Clusters was formed in Paris with the support of OCSE represented by the Department of Enterprise and Employment (Ireland) and Sergio Arzeni, coordinator of the LEED programme (Local Economic and Employment Development). OCSE has used this programme for years at an international level in following the phenomenon of clusters and local networks of small and medium-sized companies.
The activity began in 1995 with a conference followed by the publication Networks of Enterprises and Local Development. Currently the LEED programme is closely following the local-global relationship and the processes of the internationalisation of small companies using forms of collaboration between districts in different countries (in particular, Romania, Mexico and Italy).
The International Club's constitution says that "The Club aims to publicize the importance of local systems of small companies and to boost their visibility, and therefore operate actively in making available instruments to support local development, entrepreneurship and the creation of employment". The programme has been subscribed by Jean Claude Legér, President of the Club des District Industriels Francais, Emiliano Duch of the Competitiveness Institute of Barcelona, Paul Gossen of Syntens Business Innovation Network (Holland), Eric McRory of Scottish Enterprise, Alessandro Cavalieri of Irpet (Florence) and by Andrea Balestri of the Club dei distretti industriali.
They are joined by Javier Lopez Mora of the Coepa of Alicante (Spain) and José Joaquim Dinis Reis of the Regiao Centro (Portugal). The activities of the new European Club fall within the complex movement of new regional policies currently in progress in various countries.
It will mainly be involved with public relations, promotion and project assistance in the definition of the development policies suitable to mobilize local resources; it will pay special attention to the geographical concentration of economic activities, to the focusing of actions taken by the local bodies involved, and to the tools that may fertilize collective capital as a factor of competitiveness. The new organization presents itself as a reference point to stimulate forms of collaboration between districts as has recently occurred between the Italian and French Clubs for a community project based around three engineering districts: Beziers, Lumezzane and Sant'Etienne.

During the constitutional meeting, a preliminary programme of activities was considered which hinged around an exchange of experiences in order to draw up a list of best practices for local development.
Then the Club's posts and responsibilities were designated: Andrea Balestri of the Italian Club was appointed President with the task of bringing knowledge of the Italian industrial districts and their dynamism to international attention. Sergio Arzeni was appointed secretary. Alessandro Cavalieri proposed territorial marketing as a means of promoting the image of specific products of industrial districts (rather than a means of attracting external investment). A preliminary calendar of the next meetings was agreed. In all probability, the International Club will gather in Brussels to meet the European Commission.
In practice, the Club will attempt to play on Romano Prodi's support for Italian districts ("the only real experience of economic and social development that Italy can boast of in Europe") in order to start a comparison of community policies for districts and local networks of small companies. Thanks to the support of the OCSE, and in particular to the LEED programme, this small company of supporters of industrial districts and local development will meet again at the Ministerial conference on small companies in Bologna (May 2000) and in Trieste in the spring of 2000.

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Events and News

New names and addresses for the Club
The Districts' Club requires the appointment of a new President every two years. The new President is Virgilio Bugatti, managing director of Pinti Inox. The secretariat and the offices of the Club have been transferred from Prato to Lumezzane.
The new secretary is Luciano Consolati, director of Agenzia Lumetel based at Via Mazzini 92, Lumezzane (post code 25065 - BS), telephone 030 8251010 fax 030 8921420 info@clubdistretti.it.

Sites dedicated to industrial districts are;
www.competitiveness.org
www.technicvallee.com
 

The voice of the Club
The Club has participated at these meetings:

  • The Competitiveness Institute
    The Challenges of Mature and Emerging Clusters
    Varese, 10-12 November 1999

  • Italian Cultural Institute - Budapest
    Italian industrial districts and business development in Hungary: a comparison of experiences
    Budapest, 23 November 1999

  • Institute of International Research
    Successful building and organizing of energy consortia in the new electric market
    Milan, 1 December 1999

  • Italian Embassy, Lisbon, Ipi
    Industrial collaboration between small and medium-sized companies, 20 specialized services and Italian and Portuguese industrial districts
    Lisbon, 12-13 December 1999

  • Alleanza Nazionale - Federation of Naples
    Industrial districts. A model to promote
    Naples, 22 January 2000

  • Cisl Bergamo
    The system of Industrial Districts and Territorial Agreements. Possible instruments for local development in international competition.
    Bergamo, 2 February 2000

  • Republic of Algeria. Ministry of share holding and coordination of reforms
    Algerian and Italian meetings on privatisation and share holdings
    Algiers, 16/17 February 2000

  • Censis, Boot Museum
    A possible upturn? Industrial districts and government of the territory
    Boot Museum - Montebelluna 18 February 2000

  • OECD - Scottish Enterpise
    Devolution and Globalisation. Indications for Local Decision-Makers"
    Glasgow, 28/29 February 2000

  • Promotigullio
    Meeting of the Committee of the district for slate working in Cicagna
    Cicagna, 8 March 2000

  • Cna Region of Sicily and the Province of Agrigento
    Systems of small companies and industrial districts in the policies for local development
    Agrigento, 18/19 March 2000

Related publications

Districts and Environment

Distretti industriali e innovazione ambientale
Legambiente
Ente Fiera Padova, marzo 2000

Districts in the south of Italy

D. Cersosimo (editor)
Città, paesi, distretti. Trame e nodi della realtà meridionale
Meridiana Libri, 1999 for Banca Carime

G. Viesti
"I Mezzogiorni: tipologie economiche di sistemi locali al Sud", in
Sviluppo Locale
vol. VI, n. 11, 1999, pg 5-32

Exports and efficiency of districts

G. Garofoli
"Sistemi locali di impresa e performance dell'impresa minore in Italia" in
F. Traù (editor)
La questione dimensionale nell'industria italiana. Ricerca del Centro Studi Confindustria e della Fondazione Giuseppe Taliercio Il Mulino, 1999

Istat
"Il contributo dei distretti industriali alle esportazioni nazionali di manufatti" pg. 109-115
"Efficienza delle imprese ed effetto distretto", pp. 172-175
Rapporto annuale. La situazione del Paese nel 1998
Istat, Rome 1999

Districts in France

E. Tosatti
Industrial districts in France. Field Study of Eight Industrial Districts and Assessment of the Impact of Government Intervention
Leed Programme, OECD - Paris, 1999

C. Courlet, F. Saget
"Districts industriels et systemes productifs localisés" in Colloque SPL. Des modes spécifiques de développement économique territorial en France
Datar - Toulouse Labége 21 June 1999

Policies for districts

M. Mistri
"Industrial districts and local governance in the Italian experience",
in Human Systems Management Special issue on "Industrial Districts of Italy"
Vol. 18, 1999

Next events

Bologna 13-15 June 2000
OECD - Working Party on Small and Medium Sized Enterprises
Enhancing the Competitiveness of SMEs in the Global Economy: Strategies and Policies
Ministerial conference organized with the Italian Ministry of Industry. The event is split into 4 workshops of which the second is entitled "Clusters and Industrial Districts".

 

 

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