Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The performance of Italian Industrial districts in and out of the 2008–2012 crisis

  • Published:
Journal of Industrial and Business Economics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

By exploiting firm level balance sheet data from the Cerved database and employment data from the INPS database, we provide a detailed description of the productivity performance of Italian industrial districts firms over the 2003–2017 period. The main structural features of industrial districts are first compared with those of the other types of local labour market areas. The performance of district firms is subsequently analyzed both overall and separately for the firms belonging to the core district industry and the remaining companies. We find evidence of a positive and sizeable district productivity premium, increasing over the period of analysis. However, in order to consolidate their performance, industrial districts had to undergo significant structural changes. Medium-sized and large firms have grown in importance. At the same time, structural adaptation involved the acquisition of a more significant role by firms not operating in the main district industry.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The data utilized for the analyses are not publicly available. We refer the interested researchers to the owners of the databases (CERVED and INPS).

Notes

  1. Large establishments here are those with more than 250 employees.

  2. All the 12 large cities are classified by Istat as non-manufacturing oriented LLMAs, with the exception of Bergamo, that is classified as an ID. The latter was also dropped from the analysis for consistency reasons.

  3. Distinct percentiles were computed for each year-sector stratum in the dataset and separately for firms located in IDs and in the remaining LLMAs.

  4. In what follows we denote as IDs the set including both the LLMAs classified by Istat as Industrial distrincts and the LLMAs classified as Large-firm manufacturing oriented systems with district characteristics. The total number of active manufacturing corporations located in IDs and in the reference LLMAs was about 90.000 in 2012, according to Istat’s data, about equally distributed between the two groups. The coverage ratio of our final sample is thus about 60 per cent of the corresponding population.

  5. We chose to restrict the crisis period to the years when the double-dip recession was more marked. Nonetheless, extending the crisis period to include the two turning point years (2008 and 2013) does not alter the empirical findings presented in the paper in a significant way.

  6. Industry-level price indexes at the 5 digit NACE Rev. 2 breakdown level were employed to deflate the nominal value added figures.

  7. While a finer spatial partition, corresponding to the 20 Italian administrative regions, could have been adopted in order to control for geographical unobserved heterogeneity, this choice raises critical identification issues, because the spatial diffusion of IDs in Italy is strongly concentrated in a few regions and in some cases (Veneto, Tuscany and Marche) IDs account for the vast majority of the local manufacturing activity. At the same time, in Valle d’Aosta and in four Southern regions (Basilicata, Calabria, Molise and Sicily) IDs are entirely absent, making the district productivity differential completely unidentified for these areas. Measuring the productivity performance of IDs within individual regions is thus highly questionable for a substantial fraction of our sample, due to the lack of common support between IDs and the reference LLMAs. Consequently, we choose to rely on geographical controls at the macro-region level for our baseline estimates and to refer to regional controls only in the robustness analysis.

  8. Equal to 0.025, as given in Table 10, Model II.

  9. A different map of IDs is utilized, labour productivity is considered instead of TFP, regression results are weighted by employment and firms with less than 5 five employees are included in the sample.

  10. The statistical significance of the changes in the productivity differentials between periods was assessed by running a pooled regression over the entire 2003–2017 period and interacting the district dummies with separate dummies for the crisis and the recovery periods. In this specification, the coefficients of the interaction terms measure the change of the district productivity differential with respect to the level obtained in pre-crisis period and their statistical significance can be assessed by means of the usual t-test statistics. Results are given in Table 4.

  11. We have about 30,000 observations in the reference set in each period.

References

  • Arrow, K. J. (1962). The economic implications of learning by doing. The Review of Economic Studies, 29(3), 155–173.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aureli, S., Ciambotti, M., & Salvatori, F. (2010). Internationalisation of italian shoemaking districts: Some empirical evidence from the Marche region. Rivista Piccola Impresa/small Business, 2, 97–121.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barbieri, E., Di Tommaso, M. R., & Rubini, L. (2009). Industria contemporanea della Cina meridionale: governi, imprese e territori. Carocci Editore.

  • Becattini, G. (2017). The Marshallian industrial district as a socio-economic notion. Revue D’économie Industrielle, 157, 13–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becattini, G., Bellandi, M., & De Propris, L. (Eds.). (2009). A handbook of industrial districts. Edward Elgar Publishing.

  • Becattini, G., & Musotti, F. (2003). Measuring the district effect: Reflection on the literature. BNL Quarterly Review, 226, 259–290.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becchetti, L., De Panizza, A., & Oropallo, F. (2007). Role of industrial district externalities in export and value-added performance: Evidence from the population of Italian firms. Regional Studies, 41(5), 601–621.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boix, R., Capone, F., & Galletto, V. (2022). Searching for “rare diamonds”? Industrial districts and innovation in Spain and Italy. Competitiveness Review, 32, 728–742. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2022.2134727

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boix, R., & Galletto, V. (2009). Innovation and industrial districts: A first approach to the measurement and determinants of the I-district effect. Regional Studies, 43(9), 1117–1133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boix-Domenech, R., Galletto, V., Sforzi, F., & Capone, F. (2022). Living innovation machines: Modelling innovation in time and space variable-geometry territorial units using machine learning. European Planning Studies, 1–21

  • Bugamelli, M., Lotti, F. (eds.), Amici M., Ciapanna, E, Colonna, F. D’Amuri, F., Giacomelli, S., Linarello, A., Manaresi, F., Palumbo, G. Scoccianti, F., & Sette, E., (2018), Productivity growth in Italy: A tale of a slow-motion change. Banca d’Italia, Questioni di Economia e Finanza, N. 422.

  • Cainelli, G., & De Liso, N. (2005). Innovation in industrial districts: Evidence from Italy. Industry and Innovation, 12(3), 383–398.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calderini, M., & Ughetto, E. (2009). Financial constraints and industrial districts: Does internal finance matter? L’industria, 3, 467–488.

    Google Scholar 

  • Canello, J., & Pavone, P. (2016). Mapping the multifaceted patterns of industrial districts: A new empirical procedure with application to Italian data. Regional Studies, 50(8), 1374–1387.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coltorti, F. (2009). Medium-sized firms, groups and industrial districts: An Italian perspective. In G. Becattini, M. Bellandi, & L. De Propris (Eds.), A handbook of industrial districts (pp. 441–456). Edward Elgar.

  • Conti, G., & Modiano, P. (2012). Problemi dei paesi a sviluppo tardivo in Europa: Riflessioni sul caso italiano. L’industria, 33(2), 221–235.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cucculelli, M., & Storai, D. (2018). Industrial districts, district effect and firm size: The Italian evidence. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 42, 1543–1566.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cutrini, E., Micucci, G., & Montanaro, P. (2013). I distretti tradizionali di fronte alla globalizzazione: Il caso dell’industria calzaturiera marchigiana. L’industria, 34(1), 123–158.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Marchi, V., Di Maria, E., & Gereffi, G. (2019). Industrial districts, clusters and global value chains. Toward an integrated framework. In V. De Marchi, E. Di Maria, & G. Gereffi (Eds.), Local clusters in global value chains (pp. 1–18). Routledge.

  • De Marchi, V., & Grandinetti, R. (2014). Industrial districts and the collapse of the Marshallian model: Looking at the Italian experience. Competition and Change, 18(1), 70–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dei Ottati, G. (2018). Marshallian industrial districts in Italy: The end of a model or adaptation to the global economy. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 42, 259–284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Di Giacinto, V., Gomellini, M., Micucci, G., & Pagnini, M. (2014). Mapping local productivity advantages in Italy: Industrial districts, cities or both? Journal of Economic Geography, 14(2), 365–394.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foresti, G., Guelpa, F., & Trenti, S. (2014). ‘Le strategie adottate dalle imprese dei distretti industriali nel nuovo contesto competitivo. In F. Mazzola, M. Nusolino, & V. Provenzano (Eds.), Reti, nuovi settori e sostenibilità (pp. 52–75). Franco Angeli.

  • Giuliani, E., Balland, P. A., & Matta, A. (2019). Straining but not thriving: Understanding network dynamics in underperforming industrial clusters. Journal of Economic Geography, 19(1), 147–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giuliani, E., & Rabellotti, R. (2019). Italian industrial districts today. Between decline and openness to global value chains. In J. Cantwell, D. Mowery, V. De Marchi, E. Di Maria, & G. Gereffi (Eds.), Local clusters in global value chains. Linking actors and territories through manufacturing and innovation. Routledge.

  • Glaeser, E. L., Kallal, H., Sheinkman, J., & Schleifer, A. (1992). Growth in cities. Journal of Political Economy, 100(6), 1126–1152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glaeser, E. L., & Mare, D. (2001). Cities and skills. Journal of Labor Economics, 19(2), 316–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guelpa, F., & Micelli, S. (2007). I distretti industriali del terzo millennio. Dalle economie di agglomerazione alle strategie d’impresa, Il Mulino.

  • Henderson, J. V., Kuncoro, A., & Turner, M. (1995). Industrial development in cities. Journal of Political Economy, 103(5), 1067–1090.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Istat. (2014). I sistemi locali del lavoro 2011, https://www.istat.it/it/files//2014/12/sistemi-locali-lavoro2011.pdf. Accseed Mar 2022

  • Istat. (2015). I distretti industriali 2011, https://www.istat.it/it/files/2015/10/I-distretti-industriali-2011.pdf. Accseed Mar 2022

  • Iuzzolino, G. (2013). Le agglomerazioni industriali italiane: storia struttura e performance. In M. Omiccioli (Ed.), I sistemi produttivi locali. Trasformazioni tra globalizzazione e crisi. Carocci Editore.

  • Iuzzolino, G., & Menon, C. (2011). Le agglomerazioni industriali del Nord Est: Segnali di discontinuità negli anni Duemila. L’industria, Rivista Di Economia e Politica Industriale, 4(2011), 615–654.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, J. (1969). The economy of cities. Vintage Books.

  • De Marchi V., & Grandinetti, R. (2016). Industrial districts evolving in glocal value chains: Evidence from the Italian wine industry’. Piccola Impresa/Small Business, 1.

  • Marshall, A. (1920). Principles of economics (8th ed.). Macmillan.

  • Romer, P. (1986). Increasing returns and long-run growth. Journal of Political Economy, 94, 1002–1037.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sforzi, F. (1990). The quantitative importance of Marshallian industrial districts in the Italian economy. In F. Pyke, G. Becattini, & W. Sengenberger (Eds.), Industrial districts and inter-firm cooperation in Italy (pp. 75–107). International Institute for Labour Studies.

  • Sforzi, F., & Boix, R. (2019). Territorial servitization in Marshallian industrial districts: The industrial district as a place-based form of servitization. Regional Studies, 53(3), 398–409.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Signorini, L. F. (1994). Una verifica quantitativa dell’effetto distretto. Sviluppo Locale, 1(1), 31–70.

    Google Scholar 

  • Signorini, L. F. (Ed.). (2000). Lo sviluppo locale. Un’indagine della Banca d’Italia sui distretti industriali.

  • Sopranzetti, S. (2018). The Italian districts in the global value chains. Italian Economic Journal, 4, 497–522.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ughetto, E. (2009). Industrial districts and financial constraints to innovation. International Review of Applied Economics, 23(5), 597–624.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yankow, J. J. (2006). Why do cities pay more? An empirical examination of some competing theories of the urban wage premium. Journal of Urban Economics, 60(2), 139–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Antonio Accetturo, Giovanni Iuzzolino, Marcello Pagnini, Luigi Federico Signorini and two anonymous referees for their helpful comments and suggestions. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Bank of Italy.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Divisione Analisi e Ricerca Economica Territoriale, Filiale di L’Aquila, Banca d’Italia, L’Aquila, Italy

    Valter Di Giacinto & Alessandro Tosoni

  2. Divisione Analisi e Ricerca Economica Territoriale, Filiale di Cagliari, Banca d’Italia, Cagliari, Italy

    Andrea Sechi

Authors
  1. Valter Di Giacinto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Andrea Sechi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Alessandro Tosoni
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Valter Di Giacinto.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 5, 6, 7 and 8.

Table 5 IDs’ industries in 2011 (Units and shares)
Full size table
Table 6 Sample statistics
Full size table
Table 7 The dynamics of the labour productivity differential in industrial districts by macro-sector of activity
Full size table
Table 8 The dynamics of the labour productivity differential in industrial districts: robustness checks
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Di Giacinto, V., Sechi, A. & Tosoni, A. The performance of Italian Industrial districts in and out of the 2008–2012 crisis. J. Ind. Bus. Econ. 50, 815–848 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40812-023-00272-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40812-023-00272-2

Keywords

JEL Classification

Search

Navigation