Changing Governance of Local Economies
Responses of European Local Production Systems
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Product details:
- Publisher OUP Oxford
- Date of Publication 26 February 2004
- ISBN 9780199259403
- Binding Hardback
- No. of pages392 pages
- Size 242x162x25 mm
- Weight 692 g
- Language English
- Illustrations Figures and tables 0
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Short description:
Do specialized local clusters of small and medium-sized firms have a future in the global economy? The authors address this question with case studies of cities in France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. They look at the machinery industries, former steel-producing cities trying to develop clusters in new activities, and high-tech sectors. They find evidence of considerable vitality, often contradicting national stereotypes of how economies are organized.
MoreLong description:
This book examines patterns of economic governance in three specific, contrasting, contexts: machinery-producing districts; declining steel cities; and clusters of high-technology activities. Building on the work of their previous book (Local Production Systems in Europe: Rise or Demise? OUP 2001), which charted the recent development of local clusters of specialized manufacturing among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom, the authors find patterns of economic governance far more complex and dynamic than usually described in a literature which insists on identifying simple national approaches.
The machinery industries were often identified in the literature of the 1980s as prominent cases of industrial district formation, which were then considerably weakened by the crises of the mid-1990s. Did clustering help these industries and their associated districts to respond to challenge, or only weaken them further? The case studies focus on the Bologna and Modena area of Emilia-Romagna, Stuttgart in Baden-Württemberg, Birmingham and Coventry in the English west midlands, but generally in France where there are very few local concentrations.
Even while some thought local production systems were in crisis, national governments and the European Commission continued to recommend their approach to areas experiencing economic decline. This was particularly the case for cities that had been dependent on a small number of large corporations in industries that would no longer be major employers. Political and business leaders in these areas were encouraged to diversify, in particular through SMEs. Could this be done in response to external pressure, given that successful local production systems depend on endogenous vitality? The authors ask these questions of former steel-producing cities St. Etienne, Duisburg, Piombino, and Sheffield.
The idea that local production systems had had their day was challenged by clear evidence of clustering among SMEs in a number of flourishing high-tech industries in parts of the USA and western Europe. Why do scientists, other specialists and firms actively embedded in global networks, bother with geographical proximity? This question is addressed by examining the software firms at Grenoble, the mass media cluster in Cologne, the information technology sector around Pisa, and the Oxfordshire biotechnology region.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Part I: Established Local Production Systems: The Machinery Industries
Introduction: The European Machinery Industry Under Pressure
Collective Goods in the Local Economy: The Packaging Machinery Cluster in Bologna
Refining National Policy: The Machine Tool Industry in the Local Economy of Stuttgart
Machine Tooling in the United Kingdom
Machine Tools in France: A Century of Failure to Build a Competitive Industry
Conclusions: Hybrid Governance and Networked Firms
Part II: Trying to Establish Local Production Systems: The Ex-Steel Cities
Introduction: The Reconstruction of Declining Local Economies in Europe
Duisburg: A New Local Production System Substitutes an Old Steel Plant
Life after Industrial Decline in St. Etienne: Robust SMEs, Deterritorialization, and the Making of a Local Mode of Governance
Regeneration in Sheffield: From Council Dominance to Partenership
Industrial Decline and Local Development Policies in the Steel Area of Piombino
Conclusion: After Steel: Some Minor Emergence of Local Production Systems Based on SMEs
Part III: New Local Production Systems: High-Tech Sectors
Introduction: High-Tech Districts
The Biopharmaceutical Cluster in Oxford
Recombining Governance Modes: The Media Sector in Cologne
Between Cities and Districts: Local Software Systems in Italy
Grenoble Valley
Conclusions: The Distinctive Needs of High-Tech Districts
Conclusions
