Information and communication technology and geographical clusters: opportunities and spread

The widespread adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs) characterising the recent competitive scenario has been of great interest to researchers and practitioners. Many studies have been carried out to provide answers to different questions concerning, for example, the impact of ICTs on organisations. the role of ICTs in the economic development, the opportunities given by ICTs' adoption to SMEs. In this paper, the opportunities provided by the adoption and implementation of ICT solutions in a particular SME-intensive productive. environment, the geographical cluster, are examined. To this end, first the ICT capabilities and their effects on the value-creating processes characterising a generic supply chain are analysed. Subsequently, the analysis is contextualised to geographical clusters in order to identify the more appropriate ICTs for cluster firms. Finally, the actual ICTs' spread within the Italian industrial districts is examined.