Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship that occurs among network technologies and localised industrial networks of firms such as industrial districts. Industrial districts (IDs) are a typical Italian industrial feature and can be defined as regional hyper-networks, that is networks of inter-organizational networks located in a defined territory. These networks are multidimensional in the sense that district actors (small and medium enterprises, associative structures and local institutions) interact each other at economic, social, cognitive and symbolic level, by creating dense and recursive patterns of interaction. In spite of the apparent fitness among the networked district model and the networking potentiality of new technologies, data collected by Federcomin and TeDIS Center highlight ambiguous trends in the adoption of network technologies by district firms. The paper aims to analyze reasons underlying this evidence by emphasizing challenges and opportunities offered by new technologies to district firms. This paper is the output of my preliminary scouting activity in the field made in order to build a framework for my Ph. D. dissertation on knowledge transfer mechanisms through networked technologies inside industrial district.

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