Company Strategies and Performances within the Industrial Districts: A New Paradigm?

The performance of district companies has long been explained by the agglomeration economies. But the competitive context is changing and individual factors are becoming increasingly important, such as the implementation of individual company strategies. In this paper, we attempt to verify, using an econometric model, how such strategies influence growth performance, using a large database consisting of company data in 41 districts. The profile of a "winner" is a company that has intensively adopted strategies based on technological and design innovation, allowing it to introduce new products, at times in cooperation with outside parties. Supporting innovation with adequate marketing policies also proves to be fundamental. Such companies also have deep ICT investments, making a wide range of solutions available to them and so allowing them to "lubricate" operating mechanisms from within as well as in interaction with the market. The internationalisation of production also seem to have a positive influence on growth, especially if accompanied by investment in the new technologies. An in-depth analysis of the different strategic profiles shows that business competitiveness does not depend on only one of the factors mentioned, but on a mix that is consistent with the dynamics of the industry involved. The research shows, then, the emergence of a new district company model.