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Flexible Specialization in the Southern European Periphery: The Growth of Garment Manufacturing in Peonia County, Greece

1994; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 36; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s0010417500019381

1475-2999

Colin Simmons, Christos Kalantaridis,

Cultural Industries and Urban Development

Since the mid-1970s a number of rural areas on the periphery of Southern Europe have undergone rapid economic growth and structural transformation. They appeared to be following the earlier and much celebrated experience of the Third Italy comprising the North-East and Central provinces. The major form of industrial organisation which emerged in these regions was the small “flexible” firm, which was widely regarded as an alternative to the principles of Taylor-Fordism that lay at the heart of the industrialisation process of the more favored regions. However, almost from the outset the idea that flexible specialization presented a coherent and robust organisational paradigm has been controversial. Much of the debate was directed towards Spain and Portugal, but Greece, though an integral part of the Southern European space and despite its earlier accession to the European Community (hereafter, EC), has only attracted a limited degree of scholarly interest.