Moving from the hypothesis of firm heterogeneity, we analyze whether the firmÕs experience, product and process innovation as well as a clear international marketing strategy affect firmsÕ probabilities of entering export markets and their export intensities (sales achieved abroad). The paper...

Literature on industrial districts described the district model as an integrated local system of SMEs where learning-by-doing characterizes innovation, rooted in local contexts and face-to-face/informal communication is relevant within the value chain. Recently however, internationalization and...

Italian industrial districts are no longer self-contained systems of small firms, where firms' competitiveness is the result of physical proximity and links with global economy are limited to export sales. A new generation of firms is taking the lead, reshaping the form of districts through...

Global economy is transforming the sources of the competitive advantages of firms, especially for firms embedded in local manufacturing systems. Based on the theoretical contributions to knowledge management and industrial districts, this paper describes alternative firm's strategies and...

The paper is oriented at improving the understanding of internationalization strategies of firms by applying the global value chain studies at the firm level, in the context of SMEs. An original contribution of our paper is to apply such theoretical approach to the Italian model of economic...

Literature on innovation and recent marketing contributions stressed the involvement of consumers in the co-production of value, by emphasizing either the role of a single consumer or the community in such process. Few studies coupled the two interrelated dimensions and analyzed their impacts on...

Studies on emerging markets depicted the economic, social and institutional peculiarities of those markets by emphasizing opportunities and threats for Western companies. China in particular offers growing market chances, even for luxury firms. On the on hand, studies emphasize the global...