**5. Conclusion**

In carrying out our study, some research ideas are derived, consequently, from the structural peculiarity of the analyzed industrial district: the first one was to understand, or at least look for, the way in which the companies of the district are linked with one to the other in the value chain, with reference both to the position they occupy in the supply chain and to their "trading power", and the second, focused on understanding how (and if) the position of companies (along the chain), as well as their different trading power, influences the process of knowledge transfer within the district. Taking into account the reference literature on the "hub-and-spoke" morphology and the power relations that influence this district typology, attention was focused on the observation of knowledge transfer mechanisms—regardless of the tacit and/or explicit nature—for identifying the ways in which the trading power of companies and their position within the district influence the transmission of knowledge. From a technical point of view, the transfer of explicit knowledge is mainly linked to the development of the production process, along the entire district value chain; on the contrary, the transfer of tacit knowledge depends above all on the action of people within the district: human capital plays a very important role in the transfer of knowledge through imitation, mobility and social interaction.

**125**

**Conflict of interest**

of this article.

**Author details**

Giovanna Testa

Naples "Parthenope", Naples, Italy

provided the original work is properly cited.

*The Management, Sharing and Transfer of Knowledge in the Oil Districts - The Case Study…*

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.

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication

Department of Management Studies and Quantitative Methods, University of

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

\*Address all correspondence to: giovanna.testa@uniparthenope.it

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86298*
