One, a Hundred, Thousands of Industrial Districts. Organizational Variety in Local Networks of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
比较了意大利24个中小企业本地生产系统40年间的经济和社会特征，发现工业区的典型特征仅存在于少数系统，且其绩效并非总是最优，其他类型系统可能表现更好。
This paper discusses the nature of industrial districts as effective organization modes and some of their claimed distinctive features, such as 'extended division of labour' and 'co-operation' as a rule governing inter-firm relationships. Over a period of 40 years, 24 local productive systems of SMEs in Italy are compared with respect to both economic and social characteristics. The 'canonical' features of the industrial district were only found in a few local systems and at certain periods of time. The model of the industrial district is not always associated with superior performance, and other typologies of local systems may show even better results. The comparison also highlights different models of labour organization combined with different sets of socio-economic factors and apparently conflicting rules governing inter-firm relationships. Trust, 'confidence', co-operation, price, power and conflict as well as deceit may co-exist in the same typology of local system. These rules flow into one another as contingencies evolve in what appears to be a sort of biological pattern of evolution.