‘Territorial systems of small firms in Spain: an analysis of productive and organizational characteristics in industrial districts’

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to examine the degree to which the enterprises located in industrial districts of the Valencian Community (a Spanish region) have organizational structures and characteristics that differ from other firms established in other zones of the Community. Second, the paper tries to determine if these characteristics correspond to the elements that constitute the theoretical model of the industrial district. Literature on industrial districts defines the principal elements constituting this model of organization in which the co-ordination of specialized activities takes place through the combination of market forces and of co-operative relations. The empirical analysis of these factors in firms located within the Valencian Community shows how those firms that are integrated into local productive systems have characteristics that correspond to a great degree to the theoretical characteristics of the industrial district.