Giacomo Becattini

Industrial Sectors and Industrial Districts: Tools for Industrial Analysis

The article begins by showing that the traditional concept of industrial sector has been radically criticized on both theoretical and empirical grounds. The reasons for the concepts inadequacy are raised, and they are identified as: (i) the fact that in a rapidly changing world empirical classifications must be changed; (ii) the fact that when scholars seek to classify reality they must take account of the classifications of that reality made by the actors concerned. Given the diverse importance for different productions of technology and social context, of tacit and codified knowledge, the article sets out some practical rules, exemplified by the Italian footwear industry, for empirical research. It then proposes to dynamize analysis of the Marshallian industrial district, first conceptually in its elementary processes, and then with a view to empirical study of the convergence of these processes on the district form and the reasons for reviving the district analysis originally formulated in the 1960s and 1970s.

Distrettualità fra industria e agricoltura

Distrettualita fra industria e agricoltura (di Giacomo Becattini) - ABSTRACT: La Lettura affronta due temi: il perche dell’interesse mostrato dagli economisti agrari per il concetto di distretto industriale e la possibilita di estendere allo studio dei fenomeni agrari lo schema distrettuale. Sul primo punto si prospetta una conclusione paradossale: che gli economisti agrari siano giunti, almeno potenzialmente, prima degli economisti industriali, al concetto di distretto agroindustriale. Sul secondo punto si conclude che vi sono affinita e differenze, ma che forse e utile esplorare le possibilita di estensione della teoria del distretto industriale a certi contesti agricoli.

Industrial districts: the contemporary debate

The aim of the paper is to present the main lines of the wide-ranging and decades-long debate on IDs (industrial districts). We look at what the IDs have represented in the past, their current situation, and the challenges and opportunities these face in a socio-economic context that is spurring greater interaction between global and local forces. The paper first outlines a few basic concepts and some of the key findings to emerge from the more recent debate on industrial districts. Through a critical review of selected empirical and theoretical contributions from a growing body of worldwide literature, we identify themes that seem to coincide with the critical nodes of industrial districts, especially at a time when these face challenges as well as opportunities. The paper is presented as a contemporary reflection on such themes in a critical, albeit probably less than objective, way.