Evolutionary trajectories of industrial districts in global value chains

The chapter provides a typology of how globalization dynamics have affected traditional Italian industrial districts (IDs) specialized in manufacturing industries in the last decade or so. We highlight the determinants of three evolutionary trajectories: decline, hierarchization and resilience. The analysis, based on the Riviera del Brenta footwear, Vicenza gold jewellery, Montebelluna sportsystem and Belluno eyewear IDs, suggests that the resilience trajectory is related to two key factors: 1) the embeddedness of (home-grown or foreign) global lead firms; and 2) the presence of a varied set of local dynamic actors (capable OEMs, ODMs or OBMs, highly specialized suppliers, capable local institutions). The hierarchization trajectory has the former factor, but not the latter, while both factors are absent in the decline trajectory.