ABSTRACT
Since the early 1980s, the discourse surrounding areal development has become increasingly oriented towards strategies promoting local-level economic development (Commission of the EC 1983, OECD 1985, 1990, Harloe, Pickvance and Urry 1990). Concepts of endogenous development are particularly influential in Southern Europe where processes of small firm industrialisation in intermediate rural areas have become the focus of considerable attention (Garofoli 1992). However, there remain doubts, both conceptual and practical, regarding the appropriateness of this new policy orthodoxy to the needs of many regions in Southern Europe (Ferrao 1990, Hadjimichalis and Papamichos 1990). Excessive concentration on particular forms of small firm industrialisation in specific contexts (i.e. the case of the ‘Third Italy’) has resulted in little attention to the important differences between localities and between local growth dynamics.
