Clusters under pressure: the impact of a crisis in Italian industrial districts

Valmir Emil Hoffmann, Fiorenza Belussi, F. Xavier Molina-Morales and Daniel Vieira Pires

Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 2023, vol. 35, issue 3-4, 424-443

Abstract: This paper analyses the relationship between increased competition and cluster resources – that is, horizontal cooperation, supporting organizations, and knowledge transfer – during the 2008–2010s economic crisis, and we discuss the impact of the crisis on small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The empirical study is based on a survey with entrepreneurs within two Italian clusters: Arzignano (tannery) and Riviera del Brenta (high-quality footwear and accessories). Our results show that competition impacts the clusters’ competitive resources. We consider that support institutions act as a local resource but also as a local actor, which means that having a positive impact on them depends on the actions they develop to overcome a crisis. Thus, for local SMEs, territory is a source of competitive advantage, even when the cluster is under pressure. This paper provides two major contributions. First, we show that when cluster resources are affected by an external shock, a positive result might emerge. Second, from a managerial point of view, we show that institutions are important in supporting the cluster in times of crisis, and these institutions may be able to implement concrete actions to help local SMEs promote their products.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/08985626.2023.2169358 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:entreg:v:35:y:2023:i:3-4:p:424-443

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/TEPN20

DOI: 10.1080/08985626.2023.2169358

Access Statistics for this article

Entrepreneurship & Regional Development is currently edited by Professor Alistair Anderson

More articles in Entrepreneurship & Regional Development from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().