Title: Entrepreneurship, network and community in Marshallian industrial districts

Authors: Roberto Grandinetti

Addresses: Department of Economics and Management, University of Padova, Via del Santo 33, 35123 Padova, Italy

Abstract: Geographical clusters have been analysed from several points of view. One issue has not been addressed, however, and that is how these systems succeed in reproducing themselves over time and evolving. The paper attempts to bridge this gap with reference to Marshallian industrial districts, that belong to the broader category of clusters. Specifically, a conceptual framework has been developed based on three factors influencing the Marshallian industrial districts' reproducibility, i.e., the community factor, the network factor and the entrepreneurship factor. Entrepreneurship is the factor that gives the model its originality. It was virtually left untouched by the Marshallian scholars of industrial districts. Taking account of entrepreneurship, it becomes possible to explain the fall of the Marshallian model in the globalisation era.

Keywords: Marshallian industrial districts; industrial clusters; communities; networks; entrepreneurship; globalisation; entrepreneurs; clustering.

DOI: 10.1504/WREMSD.2014.064948

World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, 2014 Vol.10 No.4, pp.449 - 464

Published online: 30 Sep 2014 *

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