【摘要】This work analyses and measures the transformation of the industrial district of Prato in the last two decades; adopting the density dependence model of Organisational Ecology. The paper has two primary research aims: (i) to investigate the recent transformation of the Prato industrial district through the foundings and failure flows of its firms’ populations; and (ii) to examine the co-evolution and reciprocal influences between the populations of the district’s Italian and Chinese firms. Through an in-depth study of the foundings and failures that have occurred in Chinese and Italian textile and clothing firms over the last two decades; this study develops analysis of demographic and organisational ecology; and investigates the processes of legitimation and competition. The results of the study indicate that the district’s Italian and Chinese firms experienced two distinct evolutionary phases during the research period: while the former declined; the latter saw development in spite of recent economic crises. The analyses also demonstrate how the evolution of Italian and Chinese populations moved in opposite directions: as the first failed; the second saw increases in the number of its foundings. This indicates the presence of a substitution effect between each firms’ population at the district level.

【文献来源】Lazzeretti L; Capone F.Annals of regional Science.2017（1）