In the course of the past decades major transformations in the Italian food industry induced considerable structural changes: on one hand, the creation of large industrial groups, with substantial input of foreign capital and, on the other, the concentration and geographic specialisation of numerous small and medium enterprises, with the formation of specific and typical agri-food local system (districts). To take account of the presence of food districts the analysis of the Italian food industry could not be conducted at national and regional level but it has to be studied at province and local level. It is also useful to analyse the food industry with reference to the different sub-sectors. We will conduct an in-depth analysis of the local systems... |