So far, the relationship between Industrial Districts (IDs; clusters of interconnected local industries) and migrant enclaves (areas with a high concentration of international migrants from a single nationality) has been studied mostly by focusing on the emergence of ‘ethnic enclave economies’ within the district and/or by highlighting racist conflicts that achieved notoriety in the media. In this study, we contend that there is a more general and complex interaction between the two phenomena. This interaction is mediated by the local context, national regulations, and the organization of the international market, among other factors. By focusing on the case of the ceramic ID of Castelló de la Plana (Spain), we show how this ID with a high rate of job formality, combined with other job opportunities and a unique ‘institutional completeness’, set up the conditions for a non-conflictive Romanian migrant enclave that reached 14% of the town’s total population in 2012. Finally, and also considering another case study of ID and migrant enclave (Prato, and its Chinese enclave), we suggest a model of interaction that should be interpreted taking into account the general dynamics of the international organization of value and the requirements of flexibility and reduction of costs that frame IDs.

Molina-Morales F. X. and Martínez-Cháfer L. Cluster firms: you'll never walk alone, Regional Studies. The role of supporting organizations is subject to controversy. Although many studies have reported positive effects, the significance of these organizations still remains diluted among different explanatory factors. This paper uses social network analysis techniques to investigate the extent to which supporting organizations really act as intermediaries in clusters and how they may improve the structural indicators of the networks involved. Overall findings go further than the specific cluster literature, since they shed light on the role of the nodes and links in networks, and provide evidence of the potential benefits for focal actors.

Scholars have provided valuable insights into the networking phenomenon and its impact on firms' performance. Nonetheless, a wide spectrum of issues remains unexplored. Using the network approach, this paper examines the different patterns of intermediation between otherwise disconnected firms and its impact on innovation performance. Our research was conducted on a well-known confectionery cluster in the Valencia region. The data allowed us to calculate four brokerage roles, depending on the affiliation of the organisations involved. Through these values, we open the ‘black box’ of brokerage by examining the differential contributions made to innovation performance by the coordinator, gatekeeper, representative, and liaison roles. These differences between roles are based on the tacit or explicit nature of the knowledge transferred and the specificities of each broker profile. Consequently, the research makes a relevant contribution to the network and cluster literatures and implies some useful recommendations for policy-makers and individual firms.

The aim of this paper is to adopt the absorptive capacity (ACAP) framework to understand radical innovation in industrial districts (IDs), adopting a multi-level perspective. By performing a longitudinal case study on an ID that has successfully introduced a radical innovation – the plastic ski boot innovation developed within the Montebelluna Sportsystem district in Italy – the paper highlights how key elements of the ACAP framework (i.e. its components, antecedents, and contingent factors) allow understanding wherein IDs might indeed successfully introduce radical innovations, and what are the specificities as respect as considering a single organisation as unit of analysis. Important policy implications arise, regarding how to support IDs competitiveness and resilience thanks to radical innovation.