Learning orientated localisation strategies: empirical evidence regarding some value creation processes in Italian firms

Abstract

In this paper it is argued that the territory of an industrial district is not only the geographical context in which economic activity takes place, but the place in which certain knowledge resources which are critical for production are created, accumulated and shared. At the same time, the district boundaries are actual barriers to the transferring outside of knowledge which was generated inside the district. Consequently, it is argued that a notable difference in the stock of knowledge exists between firms within and outside a district. Strategically, the prospective is that, if district knowledge resources were critical for attaining-maintaining competitive advantage, given that they can not be replicated outside the district, then firms which are external may be encouraged to move into the district in order to acquire this knowledge. Such localisation increases firm capability to create value.