TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION AND BUSINESS ORGANIZATION IN THE ITALIAN INDUSTRIAL DISTRICTS

Abstract

The Industrial Districts – Distretti Industriali – play a relevant social and economic role in Italy‘s industrial organization. As is stated in the literature, industrial districts are networks of businesses, involving mainly small and medium-sized companies as well as other social and economic agents, organized in communities that are well-defined geographically, historically and culturally. Considering, on the other hand, the role of technology for the success of business, both individually for each economic agent, and collectively for the industrial district, the present study was planned to identify the characteristics of the dynamics of the business and the way in which they influence, or are influenced, by the management factors of the technological innovation process in that environment. It is an exploratory study of an empirical nature, with a research plan based on the review of the literature, an examination of institutional documents, and interviews with managers of organizations that are part of Italian industrial districts, as well as Italian researchers working on the subject of the present study. The guidelines for the research regarding the aspects of management of innovation, in the environment under investigation, were based on a management model that is appropriate for environments in which there is cooperative interaction between the constituent agents. The field research was concentrated on the Italian districts of Sassuolo, Modena Area, Emilia-Romagna Region (ceramics) and Lumezzane, Brescian Valley, Lombardy Region (metals-mechanics). The results obtained have allowed us to define several elements that are typical of the organization of business and of the process of technological innovation, in an industrial district. Among the management factors that were identified in the cooperative action for technological innovation, it was possible to identify the one directly associated with the cultural characteristics that are specific of the districts, i.e. the background of social and personal relationships.