From the late Sixties on, industrial development in Italy evolved through the spread of small and medium sized firms, aggregated in district networks, with an elevated propensity to enterprise and the marked presence of owner-families. Installed within the local systems, the industrial districts tended to simulate large-scale industry exploiting lower costs generated by factors that were not only economic. The districts are characterised in terms of territorial location (above all the thriving areas of the North-east and Centre) and sector, since they are concentrated in the "4 As" (clothing-fashion, home-decor, agri-foodstuffs, automation-mechanics), with some overlapping with "Made in Italy". How can this model be assessed? This is the crucial question in the debate on the condition and prospects of the Italian productive system between the supporters of its capacity to adapt and the critics of economic dwarfism. A dispassionate judgement suggests that the prospects of "small is beautiful" have been superseded, but that the "declinist" view, that sees only the dangers of globalisation and the IT revolution for our SMEs is risky. The concept of irreversible crisis that prevails at present is limiting, both because it is not easy either to "invent", or to copy, a model of industrialisation, and because there is space for a strategic repositioning of the district enterprises. The book develops considerations in this direction, showing how an evolution of the district model is possible, focusing on: gains in productivity, scope economies (through diversification and expansion of the range of products), flexibility of organisation, capacity to meld tradition and innovation aiming at product quality, dimensional growth of the enterprises, new forms of financing, active presence on the international markets and valorisation of the resources of the territory. It is hence necessary to reactivate the behavioural functions of the entrepreneurs.

La via italiana allo sviluppo industriale è consistita, a partire dagli ultimi anni '60, nella diffusione di piccole e medie imprese, aggregate in reti distrettuali, con elevata propensione all'imprenditorialità e presenza forte di famiglie proprietarie. I distretti industriali, insediati in sistemi locali, tendono a "simulare" la grande impresa sfruttando costi più bassi grazie a fattori non solo economici. Il volume sviluppa riflessioni in tal senso mostrando come sia possibile un'evoluzione del modello distrettuale puntando su: guadagni di produttività, economie di scopo (attraverso diversificazione e ampliamento della gamma dei prodotti), flessibilità dell'organizzazione, capacità di coniugare tradizione e innovazione puntando sulla qualità dei prodotti, crescita dimensionale delle imprese, nuove forme di finanziamento, presenza attiva sui mercati internazionali, valorizzazione delle risorse del territorio. Per questo occorre che si riattivino le funzioni di comportamento degli imprenditori.