Valentina De Marchi is Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics and Management at the University of Padova, Italy. Her research focuses on the managerial implications of environmental innovations and on the evolution of industrial districts within global value chains
Eleonora Di Maria is Associate Professor at the Department of Economics and Management at the University of Padova, Italy. Her research focuses on internationalization, innovation and sustainability strategies of firms and local economic systems, as well as on evolutionary trends of knowledge- intensive business services.
Gary Gereffi is Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of the Center on Globalization, Governance, & Competitiveness at Duke University. He published numerous books and articles on globalization and social and economic development; he is one of the originators of the global value chain framework.
The international fragmentation of economic activities – from research and design to production and marketing – described through the lens of the global value chain (GVC) approach impacts the structure and performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) agglomerated in economic clusters. The consolidation of GVCs ruled by global lead firms and the recession of 2008-09 exacerbated the pressures on cluster actors that based their competitive advantage on local systems, spurring an increasing heterogeneity, both across and within clusters, that is still overlooked in the literature.
Drawing on detailed studies of different industries and countries, Local Clusters in Global Value Chains shows the co-evolutionary trajectories of clusters and GVCs, and the role of firms and their strategies in organizing manufacturing and innovation activities in the context of ongoing technological shifts. The book explores the tension between place-based variables and global drivers of change, and the possibility for territories containing such clusters to prosper in the new global scenario. By adopting insights from the GVC framework and management studies, the book discusses how the internationalization strategies of firms create opportunities as well as constraints for adaptive upgrading in clusters.
This book is of interest to both researchers and policy-makers who are interested in the dynamic sources of competitive advantage in the global economy.
Chapter 1. Industrial districts, clusters and global value chains: toward an integrated framework
Valentina De Marchi, Eleonora Di Maria, and Gary Gereffi
Part I – Co-evolution of clusters and global value chains
Chapter 2. Italian industrial districts today: between decline and openness to global value chains
Elisa Giuliani and Roberta Rabellotti
Chapter 3. Evolutionary trajectories of industrial districts in global value chains
Valentina De Marchi, Gary Gereffi and Roberto Grandinetti
Chapter 4. Clusters, industrial districts and the impact of their growing intersection with global value chains
Mario Davide Parrilli and Jirí Blažek
Part II – The role of lead firms in global value chains and clusters
Chapter 5. MNEs and clusters: the creation of place-anchored value chains
Fiorenza Belussi, Annalisa Caloffi and Silvia Rita Sedita
Chapter 6. Global value chains and the role of MNEs in local production systems
Mariachiara Barzotto, Giancarlo Corò and Mario Volpe
Chapter 7. Knowledge, systemic contribution and brokerage in industrial clusters
Francesc Xavier Molina-Morales, Luis Martínez-Cháfer and José Antonio Belso-Martínez
Chapter 8. Local liabilities between immigrant and native entrepreneurship in clusters and global value chains
Simone Guercini
Part III – Value chain activities: rethinking the role of manufacturing and innovation
Chapter 9. Manufacturing where art thou? Value chain organization and cluster-firm strategies between local and global
Marco Bettiol, Maria Chiarvesio, Eleonora Di Maria and Stefano Micelli
Chapter 10. Networks of clusters within global value chains: the case of the European ceramic tile districts in Spain and Italy
Jose Luis Hervas-Oliver and Mario Davide Parrilli
Chapter 11. The role of manufacturing within industrial districts: proposing and testing an innovative methodology
Ruggero Golini and Albachiara Boffelli
Chapter 12. New frontiers for competitiveness and innovation in clusters and value-chains research
Valentina De Marchi, Eleonora Di Maria and Gary Gereffi
This book presents original theoretical and empirical (multi-country and multi-industry) contributions addressing how globalization and Global Value Chains (GVCs) impact the competitiveness of clusters and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and how manufacturing and innovation can play a key role for local development, using a multilevel approach. Particular attention is devoted to the determinants of cross-clusters and within-cluster heterogeneity, with a special focus on innovation capabilities and their interplay with the geographic organization of production activities within a GVC framework, which is the competitive edge for firms specialized in manufacturing industries in the context of developed countries.
'This volume is a key contribution to a nuanced understanding of the global economy. It usefully combines insights from research on global value chains and industrial districts – highlighting the role of global firms in shaping local development and the importance of local factors in shaping competition in global markets.' — Stefano Ponte, Professor of International Political Economy, Department of Business and Politics, Copenhagen Business School
'Not all clusters are part of global value chains, but all global value chains are made up of clusters. This truism is revealed in all its depth and variation by the rich examples in this carefully researched and important volume' — Timothy Sturgeon, Senior Researcher, MIT Industrial Performance Center
'Inter-firm relationships may offer firms in developing countries unique opportunities to learn and innovate, which is essential for their development. This book brilliantly studies new and original evidence to look into the co-evolution of two specific forms of such relationships – Clusters and Global Value Chains –, and into the complex dynamics of leadership and interactions between local and foreign firms. A must read for scholars and practitioners interested in understanding globalization and its influence on development.' — Carlo Pietrobelli, Professor of Economics, University of Roma Tre, Italy and United Nations University – Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT).
"(...) this is a well written and edited book of admirably consistent quality that makes significant progress in conceptualizing and mapping the diverse trajectories, both positive and negative, of European industrial districts as they seek to compete with and/or integrate into global production structures." - Neil M. Coe, Department of Geography, National University of Singapore
