Abstract
The present paper illustrates the result of a field research carried out on two representative enterprise clusters (Prato for textile and Bergamo for machine tools) aimed at gaining a better understanding of the role and importance assigned to country-of-origin, but also to district of origin by Italian SMEs. Specifically for Italy, given the unique structure and clustered location, the research measures the importance assigned to country-of-origin effect ad identifies tools used by district firms to leverage country and local origin, with a particular focus on marketing communications and branding strategies.