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LATIN ITALIAN
INTRODUCTION INDIA DOCUMENTS TRAINING
AMERICA EXPERIENCE
Features of SME Cluster
The Third Italy The Real Service Centres
Development in Italy
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The international interest in SME clusters has been fueled particularly by the experience
of what has come to be called the Third Italy. The concept of the Third Italy started to
be used in the late 1970s. At that time, it became apparent that while little economic
progress was in sight in the poor South (Second Italy), the traditionally rich Northwest
(First Italy) was facing a deep crisis. In contrast, the Northeast and centre of Italy
showed fast growth which attracted the attention of social scientists. In a number of
sectors where small firms predominated, groups of firms clustered together in specific
regions seemed to be able to grow rapidly, develop niches in export markets and offer
new employment opportunities. In-depth evidence is available for selected SME clusters
operating in the following industrial sectors:
The rapid growth of the Third Italy, and in particular the rapid growth of SME-based
industries, was associated with the concentration of firms in particular sectors and
localities. Such clusters were able to establish a strong position in world markets in a
number of so-called traditional products - shoes, leather handbags, knitwear, furniture,
tiles, musical instruments, food processing - and also in the industries which supply
machinery to these sectors. In a traditional industry, such as shoes, clusters of SMEs
were able to expand production and exports in the 1970s and 1980s at a time when large
enterprises in Britain and Germany were in decline. Perhaps most important, such
clusters seemed to have the capacity to innovate their production.
The apparent vitality of SME clusters in Italy led to a considerable interest in the bases
of their success. The concept of industrial districts was used to capture the success of
agglomerations of small firms in these areas of this country. This Italian experience gave
impetus to research on industrial districts in a number of advanced country regions.
From this international debate the following have emerged as the main attributes of
industrial districts:
geographical proximity of SMEs,
sectoral specialisation,
predominance of small and medium sized firms,
close inter-firm collaboration,
inter-firm competition based on innovation,
a socio-cultural identity which facilitates trust,
active self-help organizations, and
supportive regional and municipal government.
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The analysis of the Italian experience indicates that there are many types of SME
clusters. However, there are some common denominators in the most dynamic SME
systems, and it is these factors that should be emphasized in policy considerations. These
are outlined in the following remarks:
A reference to the various policies favouring Italian SMEs as well as a list of the major
Italian industrial district is available in the paper "The Italian SME Experience and
Possible Lessons for Emerging Countries". (PDF/98KB/39pages)
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A feature of the Italian industrial districts that has attracted a great deal of attention is the
tendency of public support to focus on the supply of business development services that
are highly customised to the specific industrial tradition of each area (also known as real
services in the literature). Over 130 real service centres were identified in 56 industrial
district. Such centres offer a wide array of services including:
credit guarantee,
export insurance and/or promotion,
organisation of fairs,
access to information on the evolution of markets/technology,
client rating,
consultancy,
training,
waste management,
pollution control,
quality certification and award of trademarks,
product promotion,
support to innovation,
bulk purchase of inputs, and
product testing.
An effective platform
o it identifies an area for intervention (thus putting forward a vision for the
future of the district as well as a strategy to realise it),
o it discloses the opportunity for the district producers to strengthen the
viability of their own businesses,
o it lists the priorities for public support, and
o it sets an agenda for a public-private dialogue.
Customer-orientation
Within the context of the industrial districts, embedded autonomy is the basis for
the real service centres to trigger a radical redefinition of the internal structure of
the local SMEs. Indeed, the managers of the real service centres rarely prove able
to "force" their decisions upon the district entrepreneurs. Quite on the contrary
the autonomy of the real service centre (in terms of the capacity of its managers
to identify the challenges faced by the district and to put forward proposals to
address them) is systematically balanced by its embeddedness within the local
economy (a feature that tames the most far reaching projects but that certainly
contributes to the disclosure of the otherwise tacit knowledge dispersed within
the district).
The embedded autonomy of the real service centre contributes to the effective
supply of business development services and thus to the competitiveness of the
district producers. In the medium term, it also contributes to strengthen the
capacity of the district to act as a coherent entity with respect to the challenges
faced by its entrepreneurs, and thus to favour an enhancement of the governance
potential of the local economy. The management board of a real service centre
provides in many ways an ideal opportunity to facilitate the emergence of a
consensus among the various district players, because:
o most of such players are represented on such a body and these meetings
are often the only opportunity to look beyond immediate needs,
o the autonomy gained by the managers of the centre allows the latter to put
forward proposals as impartial referees who can credibly claim to act in
the interest of the district,
o it provides the opportunity to reward the actors who are most likely to be
negatively affected in anticipation of their welfare losses (for example
granting privileged access to the services provided by the centre).
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Contact: Fabio RUSSO Document #331114, expires Monday, May 13, 2002