The role of flagship firms in the development of the district: a case study from the clothing district of Val Vibrata

The district issue has been at the center of the academic debate over the last decades: during the 80's it proved to be a very innovative model, a successful alternative to the paradigm of the vertically integrated large firm, characterized by high specialization of many small firms geographically localized, significant levels of wealth for the local population and great flexibility of production processes and workforce mobility. After the intensive globalization processes districts have undergone profound changes that, in particular, shed new light into the role of single, larger firms within it for the development of the whole system. Adopting the perspective of the single firm, this paper aims to contribute to the debate by bringing the example of the Val Vibrata (a small territory located in the central Italy) clothing district through a series of interviews with its flagship firms in order to understand how strong is the impact of these firms on the local economy and the degree of internationalization that they have reached trough their strategies.