ABSTRACT

This chapter provides the various characteristics associated with Italian industrial districts (IDs) and determine what practices are followed in the Kanpur saddlery cluster. Research on IDs and small firm clusters has shown that the relevant unit for local industrial development could be the region. In clusters firms undertake only a small and specialized part of the whole production process. Inter-firm relations are based on cooperation on many fronts even though firms compete for the market share. Existing industrial district and small firm cluster literature has stressed features like region, religion, language and ethnicity as bases of trust. Producers interact in industrial clusters or small firm clusters in order to identify their common interests and act upon them for collective benefit. The areas where exporters have links with each other include sharing buyer information and exchange of favours, assistance in managing labour advances, and awareness about potentially ruinous price competition.