“We Simply Have to Do that Stuff for our Survival”: Labour,Firm Innovation and Cluster Governance in the Canadian Automotive Parts Industry

Based on a case study of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union in southern Ontario we argue for a critical reconstruction of both the labour geography and industrial cluster literature. The former stresses the active role of labour in the formation of economic landscapes, but has yet to explore labour's agency in production and how labour institutions shape technological change, firm innovation and industrial policy and strategy. Conversely, much of the industrial cluster and regional innovation systems literature is silent on the role of unions and industrial relations institutions in fostering innovation. We conclude with two main points. First, while some contend that positive union roles in innovation can only stem from partnerships with management and team working, we argue that innovation is more likely to emerge and worker interests are better protected when traditional collective bargaining structures and progressive employment legislation play a central role. Second, positive workplace and cluster level cooperation in the Canadian automotive parts industry are jeopardized by the broader and ongoing macro‐economic restructuring of OEM global production networks due to over‐capacity and intense cost‐cutting pressures reverberating down the supply chain.     

Innovation policy at the local and national levels: The case of Emilia‐Romagna

The article describes the main Italian policy instruments for innovation and how these have been used by companies located in the Region of Emilia‐Romagna. It also describes the role played by structures set up at the local level in the enactment of innovation policies in Emilia‐Romagna. In the first part, the article analyzes the current organization and legislation of Italian innovation policy; and in the second part, it examines the reasons which have led to the recognition of the importance of the local level of innovation policy, looking more closely at innovation initiatives in the Region of Emilia‐Romagna. In the third part, it draws the conclusions. In particular the article underlines that Italian local governments, even without legislative and financial autonomy, can play an important role in modernizing the industrial system through initiatives which do not require vast sums of money but which identify and meet specific local needs.     

Legislation as an Instrument in South African Heritage Management: Is It Effective?

Abstract

Heritage management and cultural legislation have always existed in the African continent, even before the days of written laws. However, it is often perceived that it was with the 'taking over' of the continent that civilization and heritage legislation were first implemented. The 'new' legislation did not recognize the indigenous means of management and ignored the fact that heritage sites have existed long prior to the scramble for the continent. The first enacted legislation in South Africa was distinctively biased towards the Bushmen heritage. I argue that this was probably because it was not politically problematic as Bushmen were considered to be a dying nation with a culture going 'extinct'. Having legislation that promoted the heritage of the people you were colonizing might not have been strategically correct. Legislation over the years moved away from the 'Bushmen culture' to protecting colonial heritage sites. Whilst the post-colonial heritage legislation has improved on the previous legislation — as can be shown by its success in courts — there are still areas of concern. I find the whole heritage framework represented by the legislation to still be clearly non-African, with a top-down approach that has not much respect for African culture, especially the values that clash with Eurocentric ones. I conclude that indeed there has been significant progress made with legislation over the years, from 1911 to 1999 when the current legislation was promulgated. However, a lack of proactive measures from within heritage management, as well as external factors, are still a stumbling block to a successful implementation of heritage legislation and as a result heritage is still threatened.     

POLICY INNOVATION AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAGMENTATION*

This article argues that fragmented and decentralized policy making structures can generate major Policy innovation as well as can centralized structures. The fragmented committee structure of Congress is shown to facilitate innovation in the example of federal water pollution control legislation. Thorough consideration of four dimensions of costs and benefits strengthens the case for disjointed Innovation since it “promotes entrepreneurship, encourages competition, minimizes the costs of change, and promotes legitimacy….”     

Finnish Mosaic of Regional Innovation System—Assessment of Thematic Regional Innovation Platforms Based on Related Variety

The emphasis of Finnish innovation policy has very much been on promoting actions that can be labelled as science–technology–innovation mode of innovation, which is based on the production and use of codified scientific and technical knowledge. However, recent research has emphasized also the importance of more experienced-based mode of learning and innovation, which can be labelled as doing–using–interacting mode of innovation. This study is an attempt to shed light on the current development phase of Finnish innovation system facing the new paradigm. The Finnish innovation system is seen as a mosaic of regional innovation systems. The regional innovation systems are analysed through a developed framework including elements of theories of innovation systems and cluster theories as well as two recent national-level strategy documents. One of the main concepts of the study is related variety in regional innovation platforms. This study also aims at creating a pragmatic framework for describing related variety at the regional level by combining aspects from two theoretical frameworks. The empirical data were gathered in a series of workshops in all the Finnish regions during the year 2008. The result maps Finnish thematic regional innovation platforms fuelled by related variety.     

Linking Technology Foresight and Regional Innovation Activities: Network Facilitating Innovation Policy in Lahti Region,Finland

During recent years a growing body of literature has been published on regional innovation systems and regional foresight activities. However, not so much attention has been paid on modelling the connection between these two areas of research. This article proposes a model on how to use results of regional technology foresight in generating practical innovation processes in a region with mainly synthetic knowledge infrastructures. The model draws upon practical experiences from Lahti region, Finland, where the concept of network facilitating innovation policy has been adopted as part of the regional development strategy.     

Parliament and the Reformation of Edward VI

This article explores the ways in which parliament was used to shape the accelerating protestant reformation undertaken by successive governments under Edward VI. It underlines the significance for constitutional history of Thomas Cromwell's extraordinary promotion of England's parliament to enact the break with Rome and evangelical religious change, and the corresponding use of parliament after Cromwell's fall by conservatives to combat evangelical gains, which at first constituted an obstacle to Protector Somerset's plans. There was a steady deliberate erosion of conservative episcopal votes in the Lords through political man?uvres from 1547; nevertheless, up to late 1549, the weight of conservative opposition in the Lords (without much obvious corresponding traditionalist support in the Commons) dictated crabwise progress in legislation. The convocations of Canterbury and York played a more marginal role in religious change. Somerset's unsuccessful attempt at populist innovation in parliament was, arguably, an important element fuelling the coup against him in autumn 1549. Thereafter, events moved much more rapidly, aided by further compulsory retirements of bishops. Attention is drawn to the frustration felt by some enthusiastic evangelicals at the pace of change dictated by parliament, leading the prominent refugee, Jan ?aski, sarcastically to characterise the Edwardian Reformation in retrospect as ‘parliamentary theology’. From late 1552, divisions between clergy and nobility in the evangelical leadership over plundering of church wealth led to confusion, ill will and the disruption of further progress, even before it was obvious that King Edward was rapidly dying.     

The origin of the Racist Laws under fascism. Aproblem of historiography

Abstract

Why did the fascist regime adopt racial laws in the 1930s? The laws were aimed first atnon-Europeans and people of mixed race in the colonies, and then at the Jews. This article reviews recent studies on the racial laws, which took a variety of forms, within which the specificity of the anti-Semitic legislation has to be acknowledged even though the legislation against the Jews came at much the same time as the other racial legislation. Were these laws an attempt to imitate Nazi Germany, and hence in some form an off-shoot of foreign policy? Or were there seeds of racism already present in Italian politics and society that found fulfillment in the racial laws? These issues have for some time been the subject of major debate, in which different historiographical traditions have come into conflict, while attention has been drawn to the need to counter attempts to blame others for what remains the responsibility ofItalians.     

企业网络中技术权力现象研究评述

近年来,网络权力现象逐渐受到学术界的关注,而技术权力则是在更大程度上影响着企业网络的产生、运行机制与创新升级。本文回顾了国内外企业网络中技术权力的研究现状及发展动态,论述了网络权力与企业网络非均衡性、技术权力概念与特征、技术权力对企业网络的影响、高技术企业网络技术权力与创新能力,分析了技术权力研究对发展中国家与地区的理论与实践意义。笔者认为,既有的研究成果忽视了网络内部的不平等技术权力关系,对网络中企业间技术权力关系演变及其对网络升级的影响缺乏专门研究,应重视微观空间尺度上企业网络内的技术权力现象,关注不同层级企业网络中各种权力相互影响和制衡机理与结果。     

A TEXTILE WEB

The 1830s has been singled out as the decade in which the Swedish consumer market really started to expand. In the same period, cotton textile production expanded in the Gothenburg area. A small group of immigrant Jewish families played an important role in this development. The impact of Jewish merchants on the growth of the consumer goods market is consistent with international research. Their entrepreneurial activities and renewal of textile production and trade have been emphasized. This has, however, not been paid much attention to in the Swedish research. This article discusses what impact the Jewish immigrants had on the increase of the textile market in Gothenburg and its surroundings. Through a couple of case studies and examples, we want to elucidate the significance of Jewish textile production and trade: Jewish calico printers started up mass production of fashionable fabrics in the 1820s. Furthermore, Jewish merchants spread their goods to customers in the countryside in cooperation with Swedish pedlars. The authors also discuss different reasons why the Jews played such a significant role during this particular period: The role of the legislation, the Jewish textile tradition, access to capital, networks, effective distribution, a growing consumer demand, and the geographical context.     

Neutral Bystander,Intrusive Micromanager,or Useful Catalyst?

An analysis of Forest Service-related legislative activity found that increasingly Congress is becoming involved in agency activities and decisionmaking. Congress's growing scrutiny and management of the Forest Service is indicated by rising trends in requests for agency testimony at congressional hearings, in the number of Forest Service-related bills and amendments introduced in Congress, and in the amount of Forest Service-related legislation enacted. Anecdotal evidence of direct political pressure imposed upon agency personnel by congressional members also indicates that much congressional influence occurs outside of these legislative activities. An examination of activities such as these and directives attached to annual appropriation bills also shows that not all congressional actions are productive in fostering positive agency change. The results of this study indicate the likelihood that Congress has been playing a major role in instigating change within the agency.     

The Role of Knowledge Intermediaries in Developing Firm Learning Capabilities

Regional innovation systems (RISs) literature has emphasized the critical role of interactive learning and knowledge exchange amongst firms and a variety of spatially connected innovation institutions as the foundation of regional innovation. Knowledge intermediaries have been analysed in terms of the technology-transaction services they provide firms and/or knowledge producers such as universities and therefore the role they play in facilitating interaction within the RIS. However, innovation also depends on the capability of the firm to learn. Some studies have suggested that intermediaries also play a role in that regard as participation in intermediary knowledge transfer programmes can contribute to the development of firm capabilities for problem-solving and learning. Our research is based on two case study intermediary programmes involving interviews with facilitators and participants. Our data show that knowledge intermediaries affect organizational learning capabilities by impacting on firms' network relationships, internal and external communication channels and internal learning processes which in turn affect the ability to interpret and use knowledge within the firm. This suggests that the role of knowledge intermediaries might be greater than facilitating interactions in the innovation system, as knowledge intermediation may affect the ability of firms to learn and absorb knowledge from their environment.     

The President as Legislative Leader: The Use of Veto Power in Environmental Policy Making

Presidents use legislative powers in many ways to influence environmental policy. The relationship between partisanship and the use of these powers is an open question. Previous research has shown that legislative powers such as the passage of legislation and budgetary decisions display bipartisan effects. This study argues that this does not hold true for veto power. Presidents of different parties approach environmental legislation differently and use vetoes in dissimilar ways. Understanding these differences allows for a better comprehension of how environmental policy decisions are made and the role of presidents in this process.     

Changing roles,changing rules: procedural development and difference in Australian State upper houses

The status and potential of Australian State upper houses have been enhanced, to a greater or lesser degree from State to State, by electoral system change over the past half century. The purpose of this article is to determine the extent to which those changes have been accompanied by efforts on the part of the upper houses to improve performance of their core functions of review of legislation and scrutiny of government. The focus is the parliamentary procedures that facilitate performance of these functions. As well as surveying innovation in, and use of, relevant parliamentary procedures in the five upper houses, the article explains differential outcomes in innovation and effectiveness across the States in terms of the consequences of choice of electoral system and size of upper house membership.     

Where cities fail to triumph: The impact of urban location and local collaboration on innovation in Norway

The role of cities in fostering innovation has for long been taken for granted. Agglomeration and the knowledge spillovers generated in dense urban environments have been considered fundamental drivers of innovation. This view has, however, become challenged by research questioning the returns to physical agglomeration and local networking, placing instead more emphasis on the importance of interregional and international collaboration, and on innovation in peripheral regions. This paper delves into the debate on the role of cities for innovation by examining the interplay between urban location and local collaboration in Norway. It uses data from the Community Innovation Survey for 2006–2010 to map out the geographical dimension of R&D collaboration in Norwegian firms with a view to assessing whether different types of R&D collaboration in urban and rural locations affect firms’ propensity to innovate. The results show that local collaboration is associated with increased process and organisational innovation, while it does not produce higher levels of product or marketing innovation. Conversely, international collaboration is connected with higher probabilities of product, new-to-market and marketing innovations. Furthermore, location in urban or rural areas makes no difference for most innovation outcomes in Norway when other characteristics are controlled for. Location in cities also does not shape the returns to local R&D collaboration. Hence, the role of cities for innovation in Norway, whether in themselves or as sites for dense local interaction, is less relevant than the urban innovation literature would predict.     

Symbolic Racism,Institutional Bias,and Welfare Drug Testing Legislation: Racial Biases Matter

Since the devolution of welfare policymaking to the states after the passage of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, there has been contentious debate about drug testing welfare applicants. Beyond elite rhetoric and debate points about the implications of welfare drug testing, extant research remains limited insofar as providing theoretical understanding about what factors influence state proposal of legislation requiring welfare applicants to submit to drug tests. I develop and test expectations that derive from research on welfare attitudes, social construction theory, and policy design—specifically, hypotheses that the proportion of blacks on state temporary assistance for needy families caseloads, as well as state‐aggregate levels of symbolic racism, significantly influence state proposal of drug testing legislation. My multilevel analysis of every state proposal of welfare drug testing legislation from 2008 to 2014 yields strong evidence in support of these hypotheses and paints a more complete picture of the influence of racial attitudes on state welfare policymaking. Specifically, while much research finds evidence of institutional racial biases in the implementation of welfare policy, the evidence presented herein shows that these biases, as well as public biases, influence policymaking at the proposal stage. Implications of these findings are discussed in light of recent significant electoral gains made by Republicans in state legislatures.     

Castration of male sex offenders in the Nordic welfare state in the context of homosexuality and heteronormativity, 1930–1955

The eugenic legislation was a defining aspect in the development of the Nordic welfare state. While sterilization is a widely recognized method of restricting reproduction, another part of the legislation was the castration of male sex offenders for criminal-therapeutic purposes. This article discusses the conflicts arising from the castration of male criminals. Especially targeted were male criminals whose crimes could be traced back to a conflicted sexuality, including homosexuality and such vaguely termed conditions as hypersexuality and an abnormal sex drive. This article highlights the exclusive connection of sexual violence to male violence in the context of Nordic castration legislation. It is further argued that the decriminalization of homosexuality did not lead to sexual liberation but rather to much more harshly restricted sexuality through medicalization. The medicalization of homosexuality and the castration of men labelled as sexual offenders show how the conformity of the Nordic welfare state has tended to restrict sexuality with the help of the concept of heteronormativity.     

创新活动空间集聚及其影响机制研究评述与展望

创新的空间集聚现象是创新活动最重要的空间特征之一。传统的基于经济学的创新研究框架忽视了空间的重要性,20世纪90年代以来,随着创新地理学的兴起,对创新集聚的空间问题研究得到大力扩展和延伸。本文围绕创新活动在空间上是否集聚、在哪里集聚、如何集聚等问题,从集聚化、本地化和网络化三个方面对创新集聚的空间特征进行了梳理,并归纳总结出影响创新集聚的五种机制：知识溢出、服务共享、高技能劳动力匹配、不确定性和竞争,在此基础上讨论了当前研究存在的问题,并提出了深化创新集聚空间特征研究、完善创新活动与区域及城市间的互动理论、推动对创新网络的测度与演化研究、加强创新集聚的微观机制及模型化工作等建议。     

西方国家大学技术转移研究的进展和启示

技术、制度、文化和关系、尺度、调节是经济地理学理论构建的重要中介,也是当今"新经济地理学"理论建构争论的核心所在。大学作为技术创新的集中地,也是国家创新体系的组成部分之一,其在整个国家和地区的技术创新和转移中具有举足轻重的地位。大学技术转移的研究是近年来国外管理学、经济学和经济地理学研究的热点问题。文章通过总结国外大学技术转移研究的现状和发展趋势,结合国内的研究特点,给出了未来我国学者,特别是经济地理学者在大学技术转移的研究方面应该注意的问题,以便使得大学技术转移能在我国建设自主创新型国家的过程中发挥应有的作用。     

Strategies of learning in the process of transformation

The paper deals with the learning and innovation strategies of manufacturing companies in the economies of transformation. The point of departure is the development of a theoretical framework dealing with innovation, knowledge and learning. The case is of two manufacturing companies in Poland, the learning strategies of which are analysed and compared. These strategies have much in common and can be seen as quite successful. Global knowledge sourcing has become important. Some common problems also exist in relation to mismatches within and between the different knowledge bases. More selective and specialized strategies of learning are recommended to enhance the competitiveness of the companies.