External Economies and Cooperation in Industrial Districts: A Comparison of Italy and Mexico

221 Pages·1997·17.798 MB·English

by  Roberta Rabellotti (auth.)

EXTERNAL ECONOMIES AND COOPERATION IN
INDUSTRIAL DISTRICTS
External Economies and
Cooperation in
Industrial Districts
A Comparison of Italy and Mexico
Roberta Rabellotti
Lecturer in Ecorwmics
Department ofE corwmics
University ofP adua
Italy
First published in Great Britain 1997 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills. Basingstoke. Hampshire RG21 6XS and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-25796-6 ISBN 978-1-349-25794-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-25794-2
First published in the United States of America 1997 by
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division.
175 Fifth Avenue. New York. N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-17580-1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rabellolli. Roberta.
External economies and cooperation in industrial districts: a
comparison of Italy and Mexico I Roberta Rabellotti.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-17580-1 (cloth)
I. Industrial districts-Italy. 2. Industrial districts-Mexico.
3. Footwear industry-Italy. 4. Footwear industry-Mexico.
I. Title.
HC310.D5R3 1997
338.945-dc2I 97-9326
CIP
© Roberta Rabellolli 1997
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 18t edition 1997
All rights reserved. No reproduction. copy or transmission of this publication may be made
without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced. copied or transmitted save with
written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright. Designs and
Patents Act 1988. or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by
the Copyright Licensing Agency. 90 Tottenham Court Road. London WI P 9HE.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to
criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance
with the Copyright. Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and
sustained forest sources.
10987654321
06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 97
To Giulio
Contents
List of Tables x
List of Maps and Figures xii
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction
1.1 The origin of the research 1
1.2 The main research questions 3
1.3 The structure of the book 6
Part I The Debate on Industrial Districts 9
2 The Origin of the Debate 11
2.1 Introduction 11
2.2 The economic performance of the Third Italy 11
2.3 From dualism to the Third Italy 14
2.4 The local productive systems: some definitions 17
2.5 The diffusion of the debate outside Italy 20
3 The Industrial District Model 23
3.1 Introduction 23
3.2 The industrial district model: an overview of the
literature 24
3.2.1 Locational and spatial factors 24
3.2.2 Social and cultural factors 25
3.2.3 Economic and organizational factors 27
3.2.4 Institutional and policy factors 29
3.3 Two useful instruments of analysis 32
3.3.1 External economies 32
3.3.2 Cooperation effects 37
3.4 Is there an industrial district model? 41
vii
viii Contents
4 The Relevance of the Industrial District Debate for
Developing Countries 43
4.1 Introduction 43
4.2 Industrial clusters in LDCs 44
4.3 The social environment 45
4.4 The economic effects of clustering 47
4.5 The institutional support 49
4.6 Some final considerations 51
Part II The Empirical Analysis 53
5 The Italian Districts of Brenta and Marche 55
5.1 Introduction 55
5.2 The Italian footwear industry 56
5.2.1 The performance 56
5.2.2 The structure of the sector 61
5.2.3 The production process 63
5.2.4 The main Italian footwear areas 67
5.3 Marche and Brenta: the critical mass 70
5.4 Results of the field work 72
5.4.1 Backward linkages 73
5.4.2 Forward linkages 83
5.4.3 Horizontal linkages 86
5.4.4 Linkages with the labour market 88
5.4.5 Institutional linkages 90
5.5 The industrial district model vs. the industrial
district reality 94
6 The Mexican Clusters of Guadalajara and Leon 96
6.1 Introduction 96
6.2 The Mexican footwear industry 96
6.2.1 The performance 97
6.2.2 The structure' of the sector 98
6.2.3 Technology in the Mexican footwear industry 101
6.3 Guadalajara and Leon 102
6.4 Results of the field work 106
6.4.1 Backward linkages 107
6.4.2 Forward linkages 116
6.4.3 Horizontal linkages 119
Contents ix
6.4.4 Linkages with the labour market 121
6.4.5 Institutional linkages 124
6.5 Industrial clusters in Mexico: some reflections 128
Part HI The Comparison 131
7 External Economies and Cooperation in Italy and Mexico 133
7.1 Introduction 133
7.2 A classification of collective effects 134
7.3 A statistical analysis of the sample surveys 142
7.3.1 A comparison of the underlying principal
factors 143
7.3.2 Identifying homogeneous groups of firms 150
7.3.3 The profiles of the sample firms 156
7.4 Italian and Mexican realities vs. the 'model' 162
8 Implications for Policy and Further Research 166
8.1 Introduction 166
8.2 Some dynamic concerns 167
8.3 Implications for policy 171
8.4 Conclusions 174
Appendix 1 The methodology 178
Appendix 2 Questionnaire 180
Appendix 3 Network case studies 187
Appendix 4 Factor analysis 188
Appendix 5 Cluster analysis 190
Appendix 6 Correspondence analysis 191
Notes 193
Bibliography 202
Index 211
List of Tables
2.1 Share of agricultural employment in some Italian
regions (%) 13
2.2 Growth rate of non-agricultural employment (%) 14
2.3 Value added at factor costs, millions of Lira
(1963 prices) 14
2.4 Balance of internal migration among regions 15
5.1 Production, import and export of leather shoes,
1972-1990 (millions of pairs) 57
5.2 The Italian Footwear Industry, 1970-1993 59
5.3 Some of the world's largest exporters of leather
footwear (1970 and 1990) 60
5.4 The Italian footwear Jiliere (1993) 62
5.5 The size structure of the Italian footwear industry,
no. of firms (1951-1991) 62
5.6 The size structure of the Italian footwear industry,
no. of employees (1951-1991) 62
5.7 Footwear producing regions (1993) 64
5.8 Marche and Brenta: the critical mass 71
5.9 The sample 73
5.10 The extent of externalizing production tasks
(% of sample firms) 75
5.11 Location of suppliers 78
5.12 Sources of technical innovations 82
5.13 Sources of information for process innovation 82
5.14 Marketing channels 84
5.15 Informal cooperation between sample firms 88
5.16 Use of entrepreneurial associations by members 91
6.1 The Mexican Footwear Industry, 1970-1991 98
6.2 Size structure of the Mexican shoe industry 100
6.3 Spatial structure of the Mexican shoe industry 100
6.4 The footwear industry in Guadalajara and Leon 105
6.5 The sample 107
6.6 The extent of externalizing production tasks
(% of sample firms) 108
6.7 Sources of technical innovations 115
6.8 Sources of information for process innovation 116
x
List of Tables xi
6.9 Marketing channels of products 117
6.10 Informal cooperation between sample firms 121
6.11 Use of entrepreneurial associations by members 125
7.1 Collective efficiency: a classification of effe~ts 135
7.2 Variables selected: Italy 144
7.3 Variables selected: Mexico 145
7.4 Factor pattern matrix: Italy 147
7.5 The principal factors: Italy 147
7.6 Factor pattern matrix: Mexico 149
7.7 The principal factors: Mexico 150