Local Production Systems in Europe: Rise or Demise?

This is the first book to present a systematic analysis of the role of small manufacturing enterprises in the main European economies and to review different perspectives on industrial districts and clusters. Combining knowledge from case-study literature with original analyses of statistical data enables the authors to present full accounts of the role of these clusters in Britain, France, Germany, and Italy, showing the considerable diversity of forms they take.

Colin Crouch is a Professor in Sociology at the European University Institute, Florence. He is also an External Scientific member of the Max Planck Institute for Society Research at Cologne. Patrick Le Galès is CNRS Senior Research Fellow at CEVIPOF and Associate Professor of Sociology and Politics at Sciences Po, Paris. He is the editor of the 'International Journal of Urban and Regional Research'. Carlo Trigilia is Professor of Economic Sociology in the University of Florence and editor of the journal 'Stato e Mercato'. Helmut Voelzkow is a wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter at the Max Planck Institute for Society Research at Cologne, where he works on economic sociology, economic structural change and policy, and technological development. He gained his Habilitation at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Fakultät für Sozialwissenschaft.