Traditional manufacturing areas and the emergence of product-service systems: the case of Italy

The recent technological boost has renewed opportunities for synergies between service activities and manufacturing industries, creating new models of value creation and the possible emergence of ‘product-service’ systems in many manufacturing areas. The paper aims at investigating this phenomenon looking at the agglomerative patterns of manufacturing and service activities in the contemporary Italian local productive systems. Referring to manufacturing local market areas identified by ISTAT in 2011, the paper proposes an original exploration of the relations between local manufacturing configurations and both their specialization in service activities and their systemic performances. The results suggest the emergence of ‘product-service’ systems only when specific services are localized in the manufacturing area.