Territory in mutation: the textile-manufacturing industry as a factor of local development in Galicia.

Abstract

Textile and clothing industries have seen in Galicia a very important growth process during the last decades. This activity is located in a specific way in certain places and spaces, where local productive systems are configurated, while in the other ones their presence is weaker. Another characteristic of the sector is the contrast between two manegerial models: one linked to the multinational group Inditex, and the other one associated to a group of smaller companies, but showing great competitive ability in the quality segments linked to design. Both have decentralized a significative part of their productive process to a wide net of co-operatives and little workrooms, mainly located in rural areas. The current analysis presents as objectives: to present the managerial strategies of both existing productive models, to individualize those socioeconomic and territorial factors which have contributed to the development of the activity, to identify the main territorial implications that the sector has caused in those places where their presence is more significant.