Different routes to globalization: the case of Carpi

The industrial district of Carpi, Italy, features a long history of manufacture. For forty years (1950-1990) the district underwent a number of transformations, reinventing itself, changing technology, providing new models of organization. At the same time, it continued to represent a successful model of diffused industrialization. Things changed in the course of the 1990s. A phase began which many view as irreversible decline. During this decade, the typical industries of the district, and especially knitwear, were subject to very extensive downsizing: there was a sharp fall in the number of firms, employment and market shares, in relation both to producers in other countries and to other Italian productive systems. The present work offers a first interpretation of this process, focusing on firms’ reactions and strategies.