ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the different aspects of governance in industrial districts that are considered to be important for growth. It examines the nature of successful transformation in different industrial districts. The chapter focuses on the impact of deregulation on industrial districts and emerging trends in the governance of industrial clusters with different development trajectories. Local institutions are emphasised as mediators in local development, especially education and training facilities for the supply of skilled, adaptable labour. The information exchange facilitated by various forms of social capital, especially the cultural norms of trust, cooperation and reciprocity, worker-entrepreneur relations and common social and cultural characteristics are defined as important in facilitating the emergence of local networks. The industrial district literature demonstrates the changing weight of quasi-public interest associations in local development processes. In developing country industrial districts, venture capital is also available to small firms, but family circles are more important than public and non-public institutions.
