Stefano Micelli

Global Value Chains and Open Networks: The Case of Italian Industrial Districts

Italian district small and medium enterprises (SMEs) developed aggressive strategies to extend their sales networks and supply chains abroad. Literature on districts offered alternative explanations about the impacts of internationalization on local manufacturing systems. The authors consider the evolution of Italian districts in the framework of global value chain approach, focusing on the role of leading firms. Based on a survey of 650 Italian SMEs and financial indicators, the paper describes the rise of a new district firm model, the open network, which becomes a key node of global value chains. The paper also analyses the relationships among internationalization, innovation strategies and performance of SMEs.

Reengineering the museum's role in the tourism value chain: towards an IT business model.

At the beginning of the 21st century, museums find themselves struggling to maintain audience in competition with an increasing number of leisure and cultural attractions. Their traditional mission is leaving room to a strategic approach in which conservation and marketing harmonize to create new cultural experiences that appeal to leisure consumers and attract sponsors. The electronic management of contents, reference communities, and distribution channels offers valuable insights and solutions to these institutions. This article outlines the competitive responses that can be adopted by online museums, discusses the reengineering of their role in the tourism market, and proposes a prototype of a multimedia portal aimed at creating valuable synergies between cultural and tourist services.

The Hidden Side of Design: The Relevance of Artisanship

Design Mysteries Become No Mysteries The concept of “industrial atmosphere,” elaborated by Alfred Marshall,1 plays a crucial role in explaining the link between geography and innovation.2 Clusters and industrial districts benefit from the access to a common pool of skilled workers and to new ideas that easily circulate among the firms and the professionals who share the same local context and socio-cultural background. Indeed, Marshall affirms that “mysteries of the trade become no mysteries, but are, as it were, in the air, and children learn many of them, unconsciously.”3 Knowledge, although tacit and socially embedded, is in the air, freely available to professionals and firms within clusters and industrial districts. Interactions among local actors are facilitated by physical proximity and shared local culture. “Being there” (located in a cluster or industrial district) is a necessary, although not sufficient, condition for absorbing and exploiting tacit knowledge. “Industrial atmosphere” has been used to interpret the diffusion of tacit knowledge among small and medium firms. The flexible specialization in traditional industries,4 such as textile, fashion, machineries, and furniture, and the peculiar organization of Italian firms into industrial districts (at least in the center-north of the country) were an important counterpart of the work of the most important Maestri of Italian design. Not by chance, designers such as Achille Castiglioni, Michele De Lucchi, Vico Magistretti, Marcello Nizzoli, Aldo Rossi, Richard Sapper, and Marco Zanuso (just to name a few) worked closely with firms that were based within these industrial districts. The extraordinary creativity of Italian designers met the flexibility and sensitivity of local entrepreneurs who were keen to differentiate their products through the lenses of quality and esthetics. The Milan area was the epicenter of this phenomenon, where a specific mix of designers, based in the city center, came together with firms located in the suburbs of Brianza (where an important furniture district is located). Tacit knowledge ran fluidly in the relations among the designers and entrepreneurs, as well as among firms within the district. Quoting 1 Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics, (London: Macmillan and Co. Ltd., 1920). 2 Elisa Giuliani, “The Selective Nature of Knowledge Networks in Clusters: Evidence from the Wine Industry,” Journal of Economic Geography 7 (2007): 139-68. 3 Marshall, Principles of Economics. 4 Michael J. Piore and Charles F. Sabel, The Second Industrial Divide: Possibilities for Prosperity, (New York: Basic Books, 1984).

Clusters Go Green: Drivers of Environmental Sustainability in Local Networks of SMEs

Literature on eco-parks and eco-clusters has emphasized the opportunities for the coupling of local economic development and sustainability, going beyond firms’ green strategies to include also supply chains and local networks of firms. Studies have described the conditions and policies for the development of new sustainable economic activities in specific areas based on the industrial ecology approach. In contrast, little attention has been given to analysing how existing industrial districts are facing the chances of the new competitive pressures related to sustainability. The paper investigates the drivers and the evolutionary paths of industrial districts towards environmental sustainability. The empirical analysis is based on qualitative case studies of two Italian industrial districts specializing in the production of leather (Arzignano) and tiles (Sassuolo). Managerial and policy implications are provided.

Web e Made in Italy: la terra di mezzo della comunicazione d'impresa

Nonostante la diffusione del web 2.0 abbia alimentato grandi aspettative, la sua adozione da parte delle imprese del made in Italy e ancora ridotta. Gli autori ritengono che questa distanza sia dovuta alla natura specifica degli spazi di comunicazione in rete. L’analisi di quattro casi suggerisce che il presidio degli spazi di comunicazione del web 2.0 avvenga in contesti aziendali caratterizzati da quattro elementi: elevata propensione imprenditoriale; capacita di sviluppare discorsi originali intorno ai temi centrali per le comunita di riferimento; l’avvicendamento generazionale; lo stimolo delle figure professionali piu creative.

Industrial Districts as Local Systems of Innovation

This essay examines the situation and the lines of development of industrial districts from the point of view of local systems of innovation. First of all, this article points out to the modernity factors of the district model � which are ascribable to the supply chain economy, to entrepreneurial dynamics and to the importance of geography as a competitive resource � through the analysis of recent contributions of economic literature that examined the emerging organizational models in knowledge economy. Secondly, the outcomes of recent research on leading companies of Italian industrial districts will be presented, looking at three particularly topics of ongoing changes: the process of international opening of the value chain, the technological conditions of competitive advantage, the relationship between strategies and economic performance. Finally, some considerations on the issue of policies will be developed. Such considerations underline the need to re-think the traditional models of local governance of development and suggest to look at the new external district economies, based on service economies, on much more considerable investments in training, technological and cultural activities and, finally, on more aware institutional actions with reference to the association of companies in innovation projects.

‘Intelligent’ Museum As Value Creator On The Tourism Market: Towards A New Business Model

The educational mandate of museums is being transformed as marketing strategies play an increasingly crucial role in promoting cultural products. The electronic management of contents, reference communities and distribution channels represents a challenge for cultural institutions that wish to gain a competitive advantage on the global market. This paper outlines the competitive responses that can be adopted by on-line museums, discusses the re-engineering of their role on the tourism market and proposes a prototype of a multimedia portal aimed at creating valuable synergies between cultural and tourist services.

Distretti industriali, imprese multinazionali e catene del valore

The paper reconsiders the key issue of the industrial district and the multinational enterprise as two alternative or complementary drivers of local development in the light of new empirical evidence. That evidence derives from the results of two surveys of the determinants of linkages between local firms and foreign affiliates. The surveys were conducted in the Italian province of Modena in the past few years; Modena is well-known internationally for its leading industrial districts, which specialise in both traditional and high-tech manufacturing industries. The evidence shows that local firms and foreign affiliates are actively engaged in a dense local production network where foreign affiliates can play a crucial role in enhancing the position of local firms in global value chains.

La manifattura torna indietro? Come i distretti industriali stanno affrontando la nuova fase della globalizzazione

I distretti industriali come sistemi produttivi locali hanno messo in luce i vantaggi di innovazione e di competitivita legati al presidio di attivita produttive all’interno di contesti territoriali (e sociali) ben definiti. L’intensa fase di globalizzazione che ha caratterizzato le grandi imprese negli ultimi decenni - con uno spostamento delle fasi produttive in Paesi a basso costo del lavoro - ha influenzato anche le imprese distrettuali e le loro strategie produttive, con un impatto di riorganizzazione e razionalizzazione delle catene di fornitura locali. Il recente dibattito sul backshoring ha riportato all’attenzione il valore della manifattura e la possibilita di riportare nei Paesi avanzati la produzione. In questo scenario il nostro studio su oltre 250 imprese distrettuali del Nordest e su diversi casi studio evidenzia come il backshoring sia un fenomeno molto limitato. Al contrario riscontriamo che le imprese sviluppano strategie integrate di gestione della produzione tra locale (presidio dell’innovazione e sfruttamento del saper fare) e globale (volumi di produzione).

Internazionalizzazione delle reti di fornitura: imprese distrettuali e non distrettuali a confronto

The paper compares the supply network strategies of ID (district firms) and non-ID (non-district firms) with a dual aim: to provide an overview of emerging strategies and to identify similarities and differences between business models. The quantitative analysis developed in the paper is based on the TeDIS (Technologies in Distributed Intelligence Systems) survey conducted on forty-five leading Italian districts and SMEs (small and medium enterprises) located outside the districts in made in Italy sectors, encompassing a total of eight hundred Italian firms. The results of the analysis show that there are more similarities than differences in the supply networks approach of ID and non-ID companies. While the ID firms rely more on local systems in terms of supply networks, the non- ID firms have invested also at the national level. The global geographical extension of supply networks emphasizes the ID companies’ search for efficiency and value-added competences. Non-ID firms have a more hierarchical approach to internationalization than ID firms, but the differences tend to diminish as the size of the companies increases.