Innovation and spread knowledge
Margherita Russo (2015) "Business clusters, small enterprises and knowledge diffusion in mechanics production systems"
in Mariuccia Salvati and Loredana Sciolla - L' ITALIA E LE SUE REGIONI. L’ETA’ REPUBBLICANA. TERRITORI [ITALY AND ITS REGIONS. REPUBLICAN AGE.TERRITORIES] (Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana Roma ITA) - volume n° 2 - pp. 147-160 ISBN: 978-88-12-00531-4 [Presentation of volume]
Abstract
The essay aims to offer an analysis of the conditions that favoured innovation in the systems of small enterprises in Italy, with a focus on the mechanical industry. An important aspect will be the link between vertical disintegration of production processes (i.e. the result of the breakdown of production processes) and networks of skills in the systems of small enterprises. We will try to highlight the territorial and sectoral differences (in the different sectors) that characterized the dynamics of those productive systems, recalling the conditions that made it possible to build common goods in favour of development and innovation: high quality and widespread education, social value of work, also in technical tasks, widespread entrepreneurship. The changes in the education and training system will be examined and we will highlight the critical issues that these production systems faced between the end of the twentieth century and the first decade of 2000.
Summary
Innovation in small enterprises
Innovation and production in small enterprises
Manufacturing and mechanical employment in the post-war period
Specialisation in manufacturing and mechanics in Italy, 1981-2001
Challenges to innovation and the crisis
Bibliography