Abstract

In the decade 2001-2011, industrial districts (IDS) have shown a significant stability in percentage terms despite the wide reduction of employment in manufacturing sectors and the shift towards the tertiary sector. The framework that emerges is fragmented in a variety of highly differentiated paths of change. This work aims firstly at offering a classification of the various types of ids on the basis of their main socio-economic aspects as they emerge in 2011. It includes the study of the process of territorial and economic change which has involved ids over the decade considered. Secondly, it draws a profile of enterprises localized within such types of districts and defines the characteristics of enterprises belonging to performing ids through an econometric analysis at micro data level.