Local Production Systems in Europe: Rise or Demise?
- Publisher's listprice GBP 56.00
-
26 754 Ft (25 480 Ft + 5% VAT)
The price is estimated because at the time of ordering we do not know what conversion rates will apply to HUF / product currency when the book arrives. In case HUF is weaker, the price increases slightly, in case HUF is stronger, the price goes lower slightly.
- Discount 10% (cc. 2 675 Ft off)
- Discounted price 24 079 Ft (22 932 Ft + 5% VAT)
Subcribe now and take benefit of a favourable price.
Subscribe
26 754 Ft
Availability
printed on demand
Why don't you give exact delivery time?
Delivery time is estimated on our previous experiences. We give estimations only, because we order from outside Hungary, and the delivery time mainly depends on how quickly the publisher supplies the book. Faster or slower deliveries both happen, but we do our best to supply as quickly as possible.
Product details:
- Publisher OUP Oxford
- Date of Publication 26 April 2001
- ISBN 9780199242511
- Binding Hardback
- No. of pages286 pages
- Size 243x162x20 mm
- Weight 553 g
- Language English
- Illustrations 22 black and white figures, numerous tables 0
Categories
Short description:
This is the first book to present a systematic analysis of the role of small manufacturing enterprises in the main European economies and to review different perspectives on industrial districts and clusters. Combining knowledge from case-study literature with original analyses of statistical data, enables the authors to present full accounts of the role of these clusters in Britain, France, Germany, and Italy, showing the considerable diversity of forms they take.
MoreLong description:
This is the first book to present a systematic analysis of specialized clusters of small manufacturing enterprises in the main European economies. Combining knowledge from case-study literature with original analyses of statistical data enables the authors to present full accounts of the role of these clusters in Britain, France, Germany, and Italy, showing the considerable diversity of forms they take.
Local production systems (as these clusters are termed) are seen to exist where there are either particular competitive advantages for participation by clusters of small and medium-sized, as opposed to large, firms, or where such clusters at least stand as good a chance as large firms. Small firms may work through a diversity of forms of governance: certain forms of market; cooperation among themselves; through associations; with larger firms located in the same area; or by making use of local facilities provided by governmental or other external agencies - or a combination of all five.
The introduction shows how previous literature has been divided into two strands. First came optimistic, mainly 1980s, writings, which assumed that the search for flexibility and quality, typical of post-Fordist models of economic organization, would enhance the role of SMEs. In the ensuing decade, a more pessimistic analysis was put forward. It was argued that the increasing globalization of the economy would bring about a demise of local production systems, under pressure from new global large firms. The authors discuss the possibility of more nuanced findings, and propose a combination of the literature on local production systems with theories of economic governance to assist this process.
There follows a chapter which surveys overall economic development in the four countries, concentrating on local economies. Then four national surveys take up the theme of the governance of local production systems in Italy, Germany, France, and Britain. A concluding chapter identifies a diversity of forms of clusters of small firms, and on that basis develops a sociological critique of current neo-institutionalist theories of markets.
Local production systems are found to be growing, not declining, in importance, as they facilitate the circulation of tacit knowledge - a precious resource in all sectors which depend on both constant innovation and the flexibility of small enterprises. However, the most rapidly growing form of these systems is that where groups of small suppliers depend on a major customer firm - a form that in the long run might undermine the autonomous capacities of local small-firm systems.
Table of Contents:
Introduction: The Governance of Local Economies
Local Production Systems and Economic Performance in France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom
Italy: Economic Development through Local Economies
The Governance of Local Economies in Germany
Between Large Firms and Marginal Local Economies: The Making of Systems of Local Governance in France
Great Britain: Falling through the Holes in the Network Concept
Conclusions: Still Local Economies in Global Capitalism?
