Forms of industrial development in Chinese specialized towns and types of challenges to European manufacturing SMEs: an Italian perspective

The fast rise of made in China in international markets has raised concern, among others, in the SME clusters of Italian industrial districts. The several cases of specialized towns (i.e. localities characterized by the presence of a specific cluster) in the China more dynamic regions exemplify a rich variety of factors supporting industrial growth, some of them based in cluster and local relations, other ones in international business strategies. This article presents two specific contributions. Firstly, it is proposed an advancement in the understanding of cluster forms of industrial development in China new industries, through a statistical analysis on a set of specialized towns of the Guangdong Province. The analysis is led by hypotheses generated and discussed on the basis of models of local and cluster development incorporating the experience of Italian industrial districts. Secondly, it is suggested the application of the empirical results to the reflection on business and policy reactions in Italian industrial districts to the international competitive challenge.