Human Systems Management - Volume 18, issue 2

Authors: Zeleny, Milan

Article Type: Editorial

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-1999-18201

Citation: Human Systems Management, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 65-68, 1999

Authors: Mistri, Maurizio | Solari, Stefano

Article Type: Obituary

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-1999-18202

Citation: Human Systems Management, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 69-70, 1999

Authors: Biggiero, Lucio

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: IDs are regional hyper-networks that survived the socioeconomic evolution of modern capitalism. They also promise to succeed in the coming post-Fordist development. Italian experience has shown that industrial districts are highly important, perform successfully, and are increasing their survival rates. Beyond definition problems, they are multi-dimensional, complex, and adaptive systems. They can be replicated elsewhere and, regardless of the contingent triggering factors, can grow and change their early imprinting features. Cybernetics offers a sound theoretical basis for understanding the key concepts and redirecting industrial policy interventions.

Keywords: Complexity, cybernetics, flexibility, hierarchy, identity, industrial district, industrial policy, Italy, market, network, organization

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-1999-18203

Citation: Human Systems Management, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 71-86, 1999

Authors: Pilotti, Luciano

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: We consider the nature of local production systems as a complex institutional form of coordination of the division of labor between firms as growing interrelations mediated by cognitve resources transferable by sharing internal/external competences. In this way emerge a process of internalization of competences thorought an evolutionary networking oriented to the efficiency of the system and not simply of single units. Our analysis is oriented to describe the peculiarity of the institutional system in the case of North East industrial districts. We assumes the North East industrial economy evolves on the basis of differentiated learning capacities, according to a complex …system of economic and social relations encouraging the circulation of useful knowledge and information for economic growth and expanding both base of industrial leadership and spillover chain. The North East economy is well described in terms of a Multilevel Neural Network. This approach tends to revaluate local contexts as specific and active box of innovation resources, over simple considerations as factors of localisation, in other words a bridge between local and global resources. Learning processes and institutional contexts are variables that often seem to bind together economic and social factors. The orientation towards growth and innovation is due to the peculiarity of relationships based system existing in the district area, regarding the prevalent system (albeit incomplete) of learning strategies of both firms and institutions. This system is multi-purpose and oriented to produce through processes of both activities, self-coordination and self-learning. We have identified the “generator” of growth as meta-organisers . They comprise two classes of co-operators , not necessary alternative: innovative firms (as specialists, connectors, generators) and local institutions (private and public agents, or sub-systems of institutions), involved directly or indirectly in the process of innovation and/or to reduce costs of operations. In the last part of work we will show a simple model of differentiation of some industrial districts in North East of Italy: more efficient is the district with high level of intermediate institutions (private as firms and public as local authority and infrastructure) and with more large base of SMEs leadership. Two main forms of district emerge: the evolutionary district (for example, as Montebelluna specialised on ski-shoes business) and non evolutionary ones (adaptive district) (for example, as Maniago specialised on knives business), where we find a really limited base of leadership and constraints to enlarge division of labor between firms. We shall consider some elements related to district economies and their evolution as far as regulations are concerned, in order to show that the North East’s model of development is a peculiar form of “communitarian or social capitalism” for some aspects analogous to that of the Rhine area (a clear form of “corporatist capitalism”). Show more

Keywords: Local production system, district, institution, learning, knowledge, network corporate governance, meta-organizer

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-1999-18204

Citation: Human Systems Management, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 87-105, 1999

Authors: Albertini, Sergio

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Networking can be considered the organizational support to the learning process. The paper defines a new coordination process of the division of labour between autonomous actors and organizations, beyond the market and the hierarchical processes. Networking by means of “interactive communication” is becoming increasingly the typical organizational process in post-fordism which allows new, far-reaching, opportunities in the division of cognitive labour. The discussion of the process of exploration and exploitation of knowledge is based on two analytical dimensions: (a) the types of knowledge shared by organizations and (b) the types of roles played by different actor networks. The analytical framework …shows how different specialized actors and organizations, with different tasks, are complementary as regards the effectiveness of the networking (specialists, systemists, connectors and meta-organizers). The empirical evidence – concerning the evolution of the industrial districts of the North–East of Italy towards the network form – seems to support the conceptual approach adopted. Show more

Keywords: Networking, knowledge, learning, post-fordism, industrial districts

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-1999-18205

Citation: Human Systems Management, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 107-115, 1999

Authors: Corò, Giancarlo | Grandinetti, Roberto

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: This paper describes the results of a survey that was carried out in nineteen industrial districts in Italy. The data collected clearly show that the districts examined are undergoing a period of transition towards configurations that diverge from the neo-Marshallian model. In the past, industrial districts functioned as rather closed local networks whose only points of contact outside their confines were established at the extremities of the district system of value. This closure to the outside environment has certainly not inhibited, until the last years, the competitive advantage of the industrial districts or the firms that operate inside them. Today, …on the other hand, the competitiveness of closed local networks has to meet the increasing level of globalization in the economy. The key transformation observed in all the districts included in the survey is the opening-up of the local system of value that goes beyond the mere acquisition of raw materials or the sale of goods. In other words, the districts are relating more and more with external holders of knowledge and resources, transforming a relatively closed system of exchange at local level into something rather different. Show more

Keywords: Evolution, globalization, industrial district, knowledge, network

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-1999-18206

Citation: Human Systems Management, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 117-129, 1999

Authors: Mistri, Maurizio

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: This paper focuses on the problem of the governance of industrial districts in Italy. The analysis begins with an assessment of the dynamic processes that characterize the development of industrial districts, particularly as concerns the elements of a cultural nature. The relationship between local political attitudes and forms of local growth is considered, generally revealing how in the various practical examples there is a convergence between models of political behavior and the needs of the system of small enterprises. The paper ends with a brief discussion of the law 317/91, designed to establish the responsibilities and roles of the industrial …districts. Show more

Keywords: Industrial districts, small enterprises, entrepreneurship, governance

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-1999-18207

Citation: Human Systems Management, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 131-139, 1999

Authors: Paniccia, Ivana

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Behind the term ID, extensively used in various disciplinary fields, different organizational arrangements and firms’ endowment can be recognized. However, the attempts to offer a sound measurement of their performance on a comparative basis are still few. This paper explores the conundrums of defining and measuring the performance of IDs, taken, in general terms, as complex socio-economic systems, as meso-organization between the firm and the industry. The discussion is based on a first attempt to measure the performance as well as the socio-economic structure of 24 Italian local/subprovincial areas. Performance is then related to the structural factors that literature has …highlighted. The results show how a large variety of institutional arrangements in Italian IDs is combined with a positive social or economic performance. New organizational forms, such as larger firms, networks, or constellation of firms may as well generate external economies for the local environment. Show more

Keywords: Division of labor, factor and cluster analysis, IDs, social and economic performance, SMEs

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-1999-18208

Citation: Human Systems Management, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 141-159, 1999

Authors: Belussi, Fiorenza

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: This paper studies the genesis and growth of two Italian industrial districts specialised in leather upholstered furniture. The first is of recent formation and is located on the border between two regions, Basilicata and Puglia, in the South of Italy. The second, which began during 1970s, is based in Emilia–Romagna in the area around Forlì. Both are specialised in upholstered furniture: sofas, armchairs, and others small items related to these products. The Forlì case resemble the typical Marshallian district, where, over time, a local system of small-specialised producers has formed. The case of Forlì represents a typical path dependent process. …Here, a certain industrial structure, once favourable conditions has allowed it to emerge, has tended to reproduce itself, following over time the same pattern of interactions. Low levels of learning among firms is found. They use the local knowledge, historically produced within the area with little absorption and elaboration of external knowledge. On the contrary, the case of Matera–Altamura–Santeramo represents a quite new agglomeration in a rapidly growing industrial network, made up of large and medium size units, in which firms have activated a process of creation of new contextual (and localised) technical knowledge. Here local firms show a notable propensity toward generative learning (new knowledge is absorbed from the outside and combined with the existing local knowledge). Obviously, not all firms in the district are innovative, but a few of them are (particularly certain dominant final firms that head large production networks). While agent proximity favours imitative behaviours, over time, the propagation of knowledge in Forlì has socialised craft-based skills. In contrast, in Matera–Altamura–Santeramo, the existence of a Schumpeterian-driven process, has accelerated the diffusion of new knowledge, stressing the dynamics of an endogenous growth process internally generated by knowledgeable entrepreneurs. A thick network of hierarchical firms has worked as an accelerator of technical change. Show more

Keywords: Path dependency, industrial districts, endogeneous growth, knowledge generation

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-1999-18209

Citation: Human Systems Management, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 161-174, 1999