Comparing the effects of mutualism and competition on industrial districts

We find that both these aspects make a difference. For instance, in both Marshallian and hub-and-spoke districts a competitive relationship between firms that are directly linked by trade has a stronger effect than competition between firms that are not. On the other hand in a Marshallian district it is possible to make the district more 'egalitarian' by adding a mutualistic relationship between suppliers or between intermediary firms, but this effect is not seen in hub-and-spoke districts. We highlight for further investigation a hypothesis suggested by our results that the effects of mutualism on an industrial district are more pronounced than those of competition.