The Parma Ham Consortium Case Study

A system of firms with different and complementary functions has grown into this area of “widespread entrepreneurship” with a series of external economies derived from what is called a “common market” characterized by relationships between firms based on competition and, at the same time, on cooperation. This inter-firm environment and belonging to a socio-cultural system has encouraged the endogenous development of innovation which has spread in an informal manner inside the district and raised the overall level of technology.
Mora and Mori et al. (1995) stress that the Parma Ham Consortium exerts a central governance role in the Parma Ham district and since its establishment, the consortium has assembled relationships between firms, strategies of production, and programmes to foster Parma Ham reputation on European and international markets.
The Parma Ham Consortium was set up in 1963 by 23 ham producers and its role is to ensure and certify product quality, authenticity, and production methods. The
The positive effects of this geographical spillover include the development of networks of communication among firms, directly by way of alliances, or indirectly through intermediaries (Feldman, 1999; Döring and Schnellenbach, 2006). Given that the Parma Ham district is based on one of the best-known specialty products of Italy, also reputational spillover must be examined based on the reputation of players and their governance during periods of both growth and recession (Mayer, 2006; Yu and Lester, 2008) plus since the specification codes lay down that all phases of production must take place inside the district leads to holding the value added inside the district