The current development within the European furniture industry - a significant industry in terms of both turnover, employment, and trade - is an amazing case of simultaneous evolution and continuance. While preserving many of its structural characteristics, the industry has developed clear specialisation patterns between countries and regions. Thus, studies of the European furniture industry provide strong empirical evidence of how the same overall competitive conditions and market forces might result in quite differing organizational forms. The furniture industry also illustrate how national or regional institutions precondition and partly mould the development of an industry. Drawn from a recent international workshop on "Low-tech Competitiveness and Localised Learning", this book presents six carefully selected empirical studies on the European furniture industry which are used as an outset for addressing contemporary theoretical issues within the economics of organization. The book provides a comprehensive introduction into the European furniture industry and its organization and localization within various nations and regions. Its introductory chapter treats specialization and issues of competitiveness within the European furniture industry, and sketches out a theoretical framework for discussing localized learning. In the subsequent chapters, different case studies on the European furniture industry take this discussion further by focusing on issues like low-tech vs. high-tech industries, specialization, competitive advantage, external economies, innovation, institutionalization, and localization. While of general relevance for those interested in the furniture industry, the book also makes excellent reading for students of business economics, institutional economics, and regional development. TABLE OF CONTENTS: Specialization and localized learning in the European furniture industry Localized low-tech learning in the furniture industry The evolution of a furniture industrial district: The case of Poggibonsi in Tuscany External economies and value net strategies in Italian furniture districts The furniture industry of the Lahti region, Finland, at the turning point Second-order ideas in Swedish furniture manufacturing A 'higher-order' knowledge base for trust: Furniture production in the Danish Salling district The International Discussion Forum on Low-tech Competitiveness and Localized Learning Danish Research Unit for Industrial Dynamics.