*The Management, Sharing and Transfer of Knowledge in the Oil Districts - The Case Study… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86298*

Emerging in the oil production chain, there is at least one large company able to influence the way in which knowledge spreads in the local context. Furthermore, the national system of laws and regulations that governs this production environment is so binding that it can, in itself, create the existence of positions of power within the production chain. All this modifies the relationships established between the companies that are part of the production system, if a comparison is made with the relations that characterize the normal Marshallian districts. From the analysis of the collected data, but perhaps even more from the data obtained in an informal way, therefore not quantitative, it is possible to highlight some characteristics of the oil district of the Val d'Agri. First of all, as suggested at the beginning of our study, this type of industrial district responds more to Markusen's theory and hub-and-spoke groups rather than to the parameters of the Marshallian district. However, precisely this structure, based on the existence of a centre, characterized by a larger enterprise with a higher contractual force, and by the rays, that is, the smaller companies that make up the hub, is the cause of onset of particular business relationships. In economic terms, in fact, the non-extraction or slow extraction from any well in the valley leads to a considerable loss of revenue. However, at the moment, no voluntary knowledge transfer mechanisms are implemented in the oil district, if an exception is made for the creation of the training school and the business incubator. From the tacit point of view, the spontaneous relationships that develop among the employees of the district organizations, solely because of the institution of involuntary mental mechanisms, represent an example of tacit transfer of knowledge. In any case, it is believed that a further investigation into inter- and intracompany relationships within the district may allow the specific form of the district in question to be more specifically theorized. Furthermore, this in-depth analysis must be carried out also considering the implementation in the district of the "site contract", a method of employing human resources that limits the territorial displacement of local workers.
