Outward foreign direct investment, offshore outsourcing and local network resilience in industrial districts

The internationalization of production activities is having a profound impact on regional economies. In this regard, it is generating externalities not only in the countries where production is offshored, but also in the domestic networks in which the internationalizing firms are located. Therefore, this paper investigates the effects of outward foreign direct investment and offshore outsourcing activities on domestic supplier populations in industrial districts (IDs). The aim is to evaluate the ability of these systems to react to the structural shocks associated with internationalization strategies. The results show that local network resilience is generally higher in advanced forms of IDs, where the role of large firms or service activities is more relevant.