The evolution of industrial districts in Emilia-Romagna

Industrial districts are marked by profound changes whose interpretations differ in relation to the indicators. The trends are not due to synthetic expressions such as growth or decline. The paper focuses on some crucial questions: how does it change the level of concentration in the districts? The weight of the leading companies is increasing? The internal relations between enterprises of the district are intensifying or, on the contrary, the district is more open than in the past? To answer the questions above, this essay takes into consideration a number of indicators such as employment, labor costs, vertical integration, product diversification, innovation, export, internationalization, economic and legal concentration, net birth rate.