FLEXIBLE SPECIALISATION AND SMALL FIRMS IN ITALY: MYTHS AND REALITIES |
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Authors: | ASH AMIN† |
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Institution: | Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies, The University, Newcastle upon Tvne, NE1 7RU, England |
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Abstract: | This paper offers a critical evaluation of the ‘Flexible Specialisation’ model which asserts that a new and dominant model of industrial organisation based upon craft principles is emerging, or can be nurtured in places where it does not yet exist. Drawing upon recent evidence from Italy, the country whose economic resurgence around small firms has become a cornerstone for the flexible specialisation thesis, the paper argues that there is little cause for the thesis's optimism for small flexible firms and their emancipatory role for the working class. |
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