The firms that feed industrial districts: A return to the Italian source

Italian industrial districts comprise a great variety of firms and are criss-crossed by various networks and business groups. Although the vast majority of industrial district firms are relatively small, it is a mistake to assume that they are organizationally symmetrical and that they mimic the supposedly dominant norms of the communities in which they are located. Larger firms frequently organize production among groups of smaller firms, introduce technological innovations and expand existing markets. Copyright 1999 by Oxford University Press.