How do Italian footwear industrial districts face globalization?

This paper examines the impact of globalization of production on the Italian footwear sector and investigates the structural changes taking place in some shoe districts as they join international production networks. The following questions are discussed: Are Italian footwear districts specializing in particular phases of the production cycle? Is there a trend towards the reduction of activities carried out within districts? Or are different patterns emerging according to the districts' main market segment and to the value chains (e.g. luxury fashion market or mass market) they belong to? The study explores these issues using data on outward processing trade (OPT) collected by Associazione Nazionale Calzaturieri Italiani (ANCI) to analyse the fragmentation of production in the footwear sector at “provincia” level. The available disaggregation of data allows an investigation of the different outsourcing strategies and emerging trends within the district. Two case studies are presented; one on Riviera del Brenta in Veneto and the other on Barletta in Puglia. In the footwear districts investigated, evidence of different international delocalization strategies is found. It is argued that these different patterns of specialization are closely related to the clusters' market position and suggest that these patterns influence the clusters' potential for future competitiveness.     

Economic Governance and the Evolution of Industrial Districts Under Globalization: The Case of Two Mature European Industrial Districts

For many mature European industrial districts, the present decade has been one of trying (and often failing) to meet the difficult challenges posed by the rising tide of globalization. The future of these districts in the new global economy has become a key issue for regional and local development policy, and, in this respect, it has sparked a renewed interest in economic governance. Economic governance is important in that it underpins a region's long-term economic development path. This article is a contribution to the study of the economic governance of industrial districts and the related policy debate. The article does so by specifically exploring the economic governance issue by considering the experiences and challenges currently facing two mature European industrial districts in the global economy.     

From regional innovation systems to local innovation systems: Evidence from Italian industrial districts

The theoretical concepts of industrial district and regional innovation system though closely related, capture different aspects of regional economic development. Given the “nestedness” of a system in other systems, one regional innovation system can support several districts. However, in some cases, districts may be considered as local innovation systems with independent innovation patterns. In fact, the socio-economic characters of industrial districts can be so specific that the region's size and institutional framework may be inadequate in fully describing their innovation processes. In the case of the Italian region of Lombardy, this “autonomous” local innovation system model proliferates.     

基于共同演化的产业区变迁路径分岔研究——“技术-组织-区域”三位一体的视角

在全球化过程中,产业区的变迁受到"技术-组织-区域"共同演化的影响,存在升级、衰退与形态消失的路径分岔。将路径分岔置于地方和全球两种情境下进行分析。在地方情境下:(1)若产业区企业互动学习,则升级为创新型产业区;(2)若产业区企业较少关心学习,或固化在本地化网络之中,产生锁定效应,则可能衰退;(3)如果企业产生组织惯性,不能及时随着技术范式的变化而变化,可能产生衰退。在全球情境下:(1)如果产业区企业能够摆脱全球贸易商的控制,则可能升级;(2)如果只能靠接受贸易商订单生存,则有衰退的风险;(3)若跨国公司转移导致地方企业被动转移或兼并地方企业时,产业区形态则可能消失。最后对产业区的升级进行了进一步思考。     

The Emilian model: Institutional challenges

The paper reviews recent developments in the industrial districts of Emilia‐Romagna in Italy. It notes the key question as to whether the enterprise support system for SMEs, that has proved of such value to local and global competitiveness, continues to work as well as it did in the past. This is important because the nature of competition has changed, placing an even greater stress on innovation and learning. Of particular interest is whether the Emilian model enables networks of firms to shift their trajectories from established to new industrial objectwes. New initiatives, originating from the hitherto less successful parts of the Emilian economy are described and conclusions drawn.     

Globalization and modes of interaction in two sub‐sectors in Ireland

This paper begins with a brief discussion of Ireland's recent economic success, focusing on aspects of industrial structure. A theoretical framework is then developed to facilitate comparisons between sub‐sectors. Globalization and localization, industries and markets, and interactions among firms are the three main constituents of this framework. Two particular sub‐sectors are chosen for examination: the wooden furniture industry in County Monaghan and the software manual printing industry in Dublin. We show that the first, as an industrial district, has both vertical and horizontal links among firms, is a local industry and has limited market internationalization; the second, based largely on preferred supplier relationships with subsidiaries of the software multinationals, is dominated by vertical relationships, is also in some respects a local industry, and its product reaches a much more global market.     

高技术园区与工业区之整合

地区高技术园区和工业区原有产业分工功能,随着日益激烈的市场竞争逐渐转变成竞争关系。高技园区与工业区原有规划目标提供企业厂商良好的投资生产环境,但是生产与市场重迭所产生的竞争问题,将降低彼此竞争力。本文经由探讨两岸高技术园区发展经验,指出两类团区应采取整合方式支撑地区经济总体发展,并提出对两类园区整合策略的构思。     

Paths of an Evolving City: Alternatives and Relevance in Local Policy

This paper builds on some previous results concerning: (1) a view of the industrial district as a learning region, and (2) a typology of features of local development and industrial policies. The aim here is to apply these results to a 'non-district' case study, that is the understanding of the inner logic of the economy and the framing of the local economic policy in an Italian dynamic city (Florence, and its urban system). The interest of such case is two-fold. Firstly, we see how the conceptual framework developed for the analysis of industrial districts can be applied, at least partially, to different types of local systems, and in particular to the important case of complex and dynamic urban systems. Secondly, the complexity itself makes easier, or not avoidable, the consideration of a trade-off in the inputs of local policy's relevance.     

A city transformed: manufacturing districts and suburban growth in Montreal, 1850–1929

This paper examines the development of Montreal's industrial geography between 1850 and 1929. It is argued that a decisive feature of the evolution of the city's industrial and social landscape was the emergence of industrial districts on the moving urban frontier. The formation of new suburban districts and the reorganization of existing industrial districts were part of a developing urban spatial division of manufacturing. Three critical features underlay the restructuring of Montreal's industrial geography after 1850. Waves of industrial expansion and the development of a range of production trajectories altered the parameters of location within the city. Working-class suburbanization provided the requisite labour force for firms locating on the periphery. Local political and economic alliances created the physical, ideological and legal structures for suburban industrial growth and the rearrangement of the urban fabric.     

权力集中化、生产片断化与全球价值链下本土产业的升级

全球领先企业的权力集中化和生产的片断化导致价值分配的非均衡,并进一步加剧了全球生产网络中权力结构的不对称。本文提出全球价值链上的权力是一种建立在战略资源基础上的不对称的话语权,并归纳了八种基本的市场权力形式。通过对全球十大工业制成品及服务业的市场份额分析,发现技术能力和品牌能力是全球领先企业市场权力集中的主要根源,也是决定全球价值链上价值分配的决定性因素。嵌入全球价值链有利于发展中国家的本土企业迅速提高生产能力、接近全球市场和技术通道,但是从生产能力到创新能力的升级过程并非自动发生;全球价值链生产片断化带来创新过程的垂直分离和重新整合,发展中国家产业升级的关键在于本土企业的吸收能力和学习速度。     

区域竞争力的国际争论及启示

区域竞争力具有多维的地理层次,可以从国家到地方分为不同的区域层次。竞争力概念由来已久,国际上对区域竞争力存在多元化的认识。而且,自国际贸易学者克鲁格曼(Paul Krugman)于1994年质疑区域竞争力的概念以来,引发了关于区域竞争力概念是否有意义的系列讨论。据此,对区域竞争力的国际争论焦点进行述评,进而对区域竞争力重新定义。     

Italian Industrial Districts: An Industrial Economics Interpretation

The Italian debate on industrial districts suggests that local development can be based on small and medium-sized firms, provided they work in teams and are embedded in a local system of social relations. If the availability of local public goods complements the private supply of local specialized services and goods, Marshallian external economies are engendered. When inner social and economic relations boost the supply of local public goods, and are reproduced by the consistent economic behaviour of local (economic and political) agents, they become local factors of economic development, or, in other words, the district's social capital. These propositions are considered within a three-layered framework comprising structure, conduct and performance. The relations among these levels allow joint consideration of three different processes of economic selection: competitive, strategic, evolutionary. This complexity is necessary if the conditions that foster significant Marshallian external economies are to be represented correctly.     

Distinctive patterns of industrial urbanisation in modern Tokyo,c. 1880–1930

Industrial growth in Japan's largest cities has followed patterns that are distinctive, and are significantly different from those that have been adduced in the recent literature on North America. This paper focuses on Tokyo, and in particular its north-eastern part, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It argues that a process of ‘industrial urbanisation’ occurred in Japan's capital city, a process that was shaped by the existence of a large proto-industrial base and sophisticated consumer economy and characterised by dynamic but disorderly growth in factories largely supplying consumer goods to the urban market. The paper reviews the disparate, not to say confused, nature of industrial growth in Tokyo, noting the variety in factory size and products as well as production methods. Central to the argument of this paper is that industrialisation preceded attempts at urban planning and that the processes of industrialisation and urbanisation occurred concurrently, laying the base thereby for the large mixed-function districts that became a common feature of Japanese cities.     

Applying a Systematic Review to Land Use Land Cover Change in Northern Upland Vietnam: The Missing Case of the Borderlands

As Vietnam embraces the market economy, and a number of state policies promote reforestation and rural market integration, land use and land cover (LULC) changes are occurring in the country's northern uplands in increasingly complex and fragmented ways. Yet understandings of the degree and consequences of LULC changes in this diverse agro‐ecological region are incomplete. We conduct a systematic literature review of research reported in academic articles tracing and analysing LULC change in Vietnam's northern regions. We find that these studies have tended to take place away from the most mountainous, northern borderlands. The studies nonetheless highlight a diversity of land use land cover changes caused by numerous causes, making the distinction of overall trends difficult. To complement and extend this body of research, we introduce recent LULC change research we have completed in the mountainous border districts of Lào Cai province, on the Sino‐Vietnamese border. The heterogeneity of causes of LULC change in both the review articles and our case study points to the importance of adapting land use policies to local agro‐ecological and socio‐economic conditions and ethnic diversity, taking into account state–farmer relations, household livelihood decision‐making, and policy implementation at the commune and district levels.     

旅游产业融合的动因、路径与主体探析——以深圳华强集团融合发展旅游主题公园为例

产业融合是世界产业经济发展的重要趋势。在全球产业融合的背景下,旅游业也呈现出强劲的融合发展态势。以深圳华强集团融合发展旅游主题公园为例,探讨旅游产业融合机理。在"技术、市场、企业、政府"等合力的"助推一牵引"互动中,旅游产业融合发生与发展。纵向渗透融合与横向重组融合是旅游产业融合主要演进方式,技术与资源是演进中的主要融合路径。旅游企业在主观上追求范围经济和持久竞争力,客观上完成融合,成为旅游产业融合的主体。     

Knowledge Production,Urban Locations and the Importance of Local Networks

This paper analyses the relationship between knowledge production and urban locations in industrial design, a knowledge-intensive business service (KIBS). KIBS concentrate in urban locations. This is often explained by the co-location of client firms and market access in large cities. Recent research on knowledge production, however, reveals that knowledge productive networks are significant for both the competitiveness and location of KIBS. Thus, to understand the urban location of industrial design, it is important to analyse how knowledge production is organized within the industry. Industrial design is concentrated in urban locations, but most of its clients are located elsewhere. Hence, it seems that industrial design firms concentrate in urban locations mainly because their knowledge networks include specific types of formal and informal local social networks.     

Economic policy and development in Austrian Lombardy, 1815-1859

The question of economic integration is not new in Europe. Historically, the birth and construction of nation-states was important in stimulating interest in the systematic relationships between political and economic integration. In the case of the multinational structure of the Habsburg monarchy in the nineteenth century, the result was an economic policy that, for political reasons, aimed to unite the material interests of a state that was completely heterogeneous in other respects. Lombardy was a case in point. Traditionally the region had been in the economic vanguard in central Europe. When it again became part of Austria in 1815 it also became subject to the imperial policy of political integration. As a result its economic priorities were partially reformulated. On the one hand, Austria had a protectionist system aimed at autarky which made incentives to industrial production a priority. Lombardy's purely mercantilist outlook, on the other hand, was based around the production of a few highly specialized goods, most notably silk, for export. Conflict between economic interests in Lombardy was the inevitable result. Nevertheless, the imperial government had to take account of the fact that it was impossible to restrict Lombardy's international trade relations exclusively to the Austrian market. And the problems that beset any effort to tie the Lombard economy into a denser network of relationships with the Austrian market were not due to the political formation of the Italian nation because Northern Italy, and Lombardy in particular, continued to occupy an anomalous position within the context of the Italian economy.     

转型期俄罗斯区域经济发展空间差异研究

本文从区域地理的视角,通过对俄罗斯转型以来的经济地带、基本经济区、联邦区和联邦主体四个不同层面的区域经济发展空间差异的现状进行动态分析,得出俄区域经济发展差异具有三个鲜明的特征:一是无论在其经济整体下降或增长的同时均伴随着区域之间经济发展差异的绝对或相对扩大过程;二是区域之间经济发展空间差异反映了市场经济在不同区域的作用,即在市场条件基础较好和资源性外向型经济发展有利的区域经济增长优于其他区域;三是形成了大量的"低水平塌陷"区域,即经济指标低于全俄平均数的问题区域数量多,覆盖面大。在此基础上,从自然因素、市场发育水平、体制因素以及社会历史因素等方面探讨了各因素在区域经济发展中的不同作用。     

Chinese manufacturing entrepreneurship capital: evidence from Italian industrial districts

The purpose of this paper is to obtain a better understanding of the presence of Chinese manufacturing entrepreneurship in industrial districts compared to other Italian local economies. Statistical data are used to uncover where Chinese manufacturing entrepreneurs localize their businesses and to what extent this localization is an innovation within the geographical pattern of industrial districts. Data on Chinese manufacturing micro-enterprises (i.e. with less than 10 persons employed) started up in years 2005–2007 and 2008–2010 are cross-tabulated by industrial districts and other local economies to investigate their change over time. The empirical findings show a dominance of industrial districts: those located in Tuscany are on top and Prato district ranks first.     

Learning in districts: Novelty and lock-in in a regional context

This paper deals with the constraints and risks of learning in different types of spatial concentration of related industries and firms. We aim at a better understanding of what makes the difference between local lock-in on the one hand and ongoing creation of novelty on the other. To achieve this purpose, we use Nonaka and Takeuchi's (1995) treatment of knowledge conversion processes and Nooteboom's (2000) cycle of discovery. Hence, we are able to clarify the concept and nature of learning, which in turn provides a basis for specifying different learning effects of two prototypes of spatial concentration: Marshallian and dynamic industrial districts. We show that these two types of industrial districts have multiple, different, and complementary functions in terms of knowledge conversion and knowledge creation. Hence, we can explain why spatial concentration can have positive and negative effects for learning and innovation, and how lock-in can be avoided.