Areas of productive specialization and small enterprises in Europe

Abstract

The article outlines two aspects of studies at present being undertaken on peripheral areas and the related role of smale scale enterprise. The first aspect consists of the hypothesis underlying the investigation, and the second is a first reading of the results obtained. The study area covers the European Community countries, with the prime objective of making comparisons to the Italian model. Basically, the study proposes to verify, through comparative analysis, whether the development of peripheral areas, as in the case of Italy, is an isolated phenomenon, or is, on the contrary, a common feature in other European countries. The analytical model attempts (a) to identify the different fields of analysis susceptible to ulterior penetration, (b) to prove the existence of areas of productive specialization in which small enterprises predominate, throughout the different countries of Europe, and (c) to identify these areas which have, in recent years, demostrated adequate capacity of reaction in the face of economic crisis and the increasingly widespread process of de-industrialization.