Yiwu: Historical transformation and contributing factors

ABSTRACT

Yiwu has transformed from one of the poorest rural counties in the 1970s to one of the richest modern cities in China during the 2010s. This paper examines this significant historical transformation and its key contributing factors along the five dimensions: marketization, industrialization, urbanization, internationalization and digitalization. It also identifies what historical and contemporary factors stimulated the rapid growth of Yiwu and how Yiwu is a special case in comparison to other Chinese localities. This paper argues that business entrepreneurship, local government and their interaction have played particular roles in promoting Yiwu’s transformation. This study builds on and contributes to literature across the fields of development, entrepreneurship and anthropology. It demonstrates how entrepreneurship can promote development even if a region is lacking in what are often assumed to be necessary resources for development. However, for this to be the case there is the need for a supportive and risk-taking government.     

Europeanization and De-Europeanization of Estonian Regional Policy

Abstract

Over the last two decades, the role of the EU can be considered highly important in advancing institutional reforms and overall development in Estonia. The article focuses on Estonian regional policy (RP) and analyses whether it has gone through Europeanization (i.e. convergence with EU regulations and values, or followed its own development path). The institutional cycle model of territorial governance is used for establishing the analytical framework. The research was largely carried out as a second-person action research and used interviews over the period of 1990–2011. The article concludes that Estonian RP shows considerable dynamics as public and political support to RP, administrative structures and policy tools have changed. Europeanization of Estonian RP was most visible in 1994–1998, when an institutional framework was created, in parallel with intensive learning from the West. Overall, in 1999–2004 the application of EU cohesion policy tools took place with significant convergence. After joining the EU in 2004, national RP programmes were reduced, the institutional framework was frozen and a selective application of EU rules and the use of EU cohesion policy measures for achieving some personal political agendas started, driving Estonian RP away from common European values.     

Structural and Technical Change in the Aberdeen Granite Quarrying Industry 1830–1880

Abstract

Beginning with a brief analysis of the role of the railways in the extension of the frontier line of quarrying westwards from the city of Aberdeen in the 1850s, this article examines the major technical changes that occurred in granite quarrying particularly between 1865 and 1880. With the deepening of the workings, raising the stone to the surface became more difficult and was overcome gradually by the introduction of horses, steam cranes and Blondins. The pace of innovation was slow and it was primarily the larger concerns that invested quickly in the new technology. The paper then looks at the widening markets for stone, occasioned by railway bridge and viaduct construction and, more importantly, the rise of granite manufacturing in Aberdeen with its emphasis on building and monumental masonry, a development of long term importance. Finally it is shown that, as in the eighteenth century, the sources of capital, entrepreneurship and labour were mainly local in origin and the impact of quarrying on rural communities is assessed.     

What Kind of Entrepreneurship Drives Regional Development in European Non-core Regions? A Literature Review on Empirical Entrepreneurship Research

Regional policies across Europe aim at stimulating regional development in non-core regions through fostering entrepreneurship. However, the policies applied in non-core regions and the concepts of entrepreneurship these policies are based on differ. Therefore, the goal of this review is to identify different understandings of entrepreneurship and their role for regional development processes in European non-core regions. To this end, empirical studies investigating entrepreneurship in European non-core regions from 1999 to 2011 were analysed. The results of the analysis are presented along three drivers and outcomes of entrepreneurship identified inductively from the literature: innovation, social capital and institutional change. We made out seven different types of entrepreneurship in European non-core regions. These seven types of entrepreneurship comprise particular mechanisms through which they stimulate regional development. Further research should study the interplay between these different mechanisms of regional development in non-core regions which may induce a more territorial approach to understand entrepreneurship in non-core regions across Europe.     

Serious chemistry on set: the molecular structure of film investment in China

ABSTRACT

Using the case of the Mainland Chinese film industry, this paper argues that the competing features that attract commercial capital investment and drive state centralization create a molecular structure of national film investment, or the division of investment in the film industry into several interdependent centers. A combination of regulations, institutions, the built environment and access to capital leads to a distributed investment of strategic assets linked by bonds of complementarity. Beijing dominates in the area of state-supported production. Shanghai outperforms other cities in terms of foreign direct investment. Qingdao has attracted domestic Chinese private investment and entrepreneurship. Unlike the capital agglomeration seen in countries like the United States where film investment is driven centrally by financial considerations, the Chinese national film industry is strategically divided into several centers that rely more dominantly on political or financial resources. While this paper focuses on China, understanding the molecular structure of the Chinese film industry helps us understand both developed and developing countries that are characterized by robust state oversight and strong commercial media sectors.     

Who you gonna call? Theorising everyday security practices in urban spaces with multiple security actors – The case of Beirut's Southern Suburbs

Who do urban residents turn to in everyday security incidents? Why do some go to the police in certain locations, others to armed nonstate actors or kinship networks? We explore the ways in which residents and security actors – state and nonstate – negotiate everyday (in)security in contested urban spaces with multiple security actors. We consider how hybrid security assemblages are shaped by physical and social space and how everyday security practices shape space. We use Beirut's Southern Suburbs (Dahiyeh) as a site of theorisation, bringing local vernacular experiences into dialogue with Bourdieu's concepts of capital, habitus, doxa and field to develop a spatially dynamic analytical framework. Using this framework, we map security actors' different types and sizes of capital and how this capital is affected by residents' habitus and doxa within the everyday security field. We introduce the notion of ‘translocal habitus’ to capture the impact of families' origins outside Dahiyeh on everyday security dynamics. The framework we develop contributes to the spatialisation, vernacularisation and pluralisation of everyday security studies, furthers the spatialisation of Bourdieu and adds to the literature on hybrid forms of governance. Our analysis is based on extensive fieldwork, including over 150 interviews and ‘street chats’ with residents and security actors in and around Dahiyeh.     

Adaptation in cultural industry under conservation pressure: case study of two Chinese embroidery clusters

Abstract

In this study, we explore how tension between ‘culture’ and ‘industry’ can be effectively dealt with in promoting cultural industry, taking the Chinese embroidery sector as an example. The diverging performance of two leading centers of Chinese embroidery production suggests that local adaptive and networking capabilities are essential in creating a new path out of the tension, and these capabilities are largely determined by local openness/flexibility, entrepreneurship, and linkage capacity. In Changsha, cultural conservatism prevails, and the local embroidery sector largely maintains traditional product styles and target customers, sticking to the historic path. It is in question, however, whether such a strong bias toward the high-culture segment of the industry is good for cultural heritage protection in the long run, given that the industry at standstill has faced increasing challenges in sustaining a solid local pool of skilled labor. In contrast, Suzhou’s local embroidery sector has actively responded to the changing market environment, through increased product segmentation and customization as well as intra/cross-industry collaboration. Such a flexible, scale-up strategy has helped the industry attract local talent and meet the market demand, while maintaining space for high-end artistic products.     

Architecture,Local Elites,and Imperial Entanglements: The Wari Empire and the Cotahuasi Valley of Peru

Abstract

One of the enduring problems in the archaeology of ancient states and empires is the recognition of different forms of regional consolidation in the archaeological record. Among the clearer markers of direct control over an area is thought to be the construction of an administrative facility. Our recent research on the impact of the Wari Empire (A.C. 750–1000) in the Cotahuasi Valley of Peru, however, suggests that facilities built by and for local elites may emulate so many aspects of state facilities that they can be misinterpreted as intrusive sites. We demonstrate how the Cotahuasi sites diverge from the architectural canon found at Wari administrative facilities and suggest why this convergence of local and imperial architectural styles occurred.     

Beyond the Transfer of Capital? Second-Home Owners as Competence Brokers for Rural Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Abstract

The current paper addresses the possible role of second-home owners as competence brokers in terms of rural entrepreneurship and innovation. Empirically, the paper draws on a case study of second-home owners from two municipalities in Telemark, one of the regions with the highest densities of second homes in Norway. Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire on 2200 second-home owners and with a response rate of 43% and 47%, respectively. The study results show that the second-home owners demonstrate in different ways a genuine interest in their second-home community, and also a willingness to use their knowledge and competence to contribute to the development of the local economy. Furthermore, we have also seen that an impressive number of second-home owners are educated to a higher level, within a variety of industrial fields and sectors, and have extensive managerial and hands-on experience from establishing and developing companies: in other words, they have both the interest and willingness and the required skills and experiences to become important competence brokers for local entrepreneurship and innovation.     

Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Regional Policy: A Sympathetic Critique

Regional policies for entrepreneurship are currently going through a transition from increasing the quantity of entrepreneurship to increasing the quality of entrepreneurship. The next step will be the transition from entrepreneurship policy towards policy for an entrepreneurial economy. The entrepreneurial ecosystem approach has been heralded as a new framework accommodating these transitions. This approach starts with the entrepreneurial actor, but emphasizes the context of productive entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is not only the output of the system, entrepreneurs are important players themselves in creating the ecosystem and keeping it healthy. This research briefing reviews the entrepreneurial ecosystem literature and its shortcomings, and provides a novel synthesis. The entrepreneurial ecosystem approach speaks directly to practitioners, but its causal depth and evidence base is rather limited. This article provides a novel synthesis including a causal scheme of how the framework and systemic conditions of the ecosystem lead to particular entrepreneurial activities as output of the ecosystem and new value creation as outcome of the ecosystem. In addition it provides a framework for analysing the interactions between the elements within the ecosystem. This offers a much more rigorous and relevant starting point for subsequent studies into entrepreneurial ecosystems and the regional policy implications of these.     

Towards a holistic approach to heritage values: a multidisciplinary and cosmopolitan approach

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we explore the ‘Preservation/Heritage Values/Management’ triptych, and we propose a new method for addressing the values attributed to cultural heritage sites. Combining multidisciplinary and cosmopolitan approaches, we propose a way of moving beyond the traditional lens of assessing significance within the imposed categorical framework of ‘aesthetic, historic, scientific, social or spiritual values’. We provide an example of our new approach through a worked case study in the Maloti-Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site (South African section). Our case study concerns the values associated with the world famous San (Bushman) rock art of this mountain area. Through a thematic analysis of data collected in this area from 2009 to 2017, six cross-cultural interest points are identified and are discussed. Building upon the history of values-based heritage management, we argue that our multidisciplinary and cosmopolitan method is transferable and can be applied to heritage sites around the world. It can facilitate the construction of heritage management plans that are more in tune with local actors and that will therefore prove to be more effective and sustainable.     

On entrepreneur ship,region and the constitution of scale and scope economies

This paper proposes a framework of analysis in which: (1) the constitution of new sources of economies of scale or scope is supported by systemic entrepreneurship; (2) the realization of such economies by incremental entrepreneurship takes the form of external economies, or alternatively of internal economies, together with the prevalence of different combinations of organizations, technologies and regional characters; and (3) the manifestation in the form of external economies is sustained by market rules and focused public intervention, which complement the working of markets, and which can be embedded in regional (or local) relations. Further and more specific conclusions will be referred to in the case of external economies within production systems which are assuming or are reproducing the techno‐organizational characters of flexible specialization. The standard case of the industrial district with final markets largely characterized by differentiated and variable markets falls within such application.     

Rural-to-urban migration and adolescent delinquent behaviors: evidence from Hunan and Guangdong in China

ABSTRACT

Analyzing data of a merged sample of two Chinese student surveys conducted in two rural counties of Hunan province and in the capital city of Guangdong province, this paper examines the impact of parental migration on rural children’s involvement in delinquent behaviors. We compare delinquency of non-migrant and left-behind children in the countryside, rural-to-urban migrant children, and urban local children. Both rural children left behind by one migrant parent and those left behind by both migrant parents are similar to rural children without parental migration in terms of delinquent involvement. The situation of rural-to-urban migrant children is noticeably worse, as they are more likely to engage in delinquent behaviors than rural children without parental migration. Nevertheless, rural-to-urban migrant children are not more prone to delinquency compared to their urban local peers. We also found an acculturation impact in the study because the odds of engaging in delinquent behaviors first increases and then decreases for rural-to-urban migrant children when they stay longer and learn some local language in the hosting city.     

Editorial

Abstract

The Fiestas de Astures y Romanos (The Festival of Astures and Romans) is a thriving historical re-enactment performed in the town of Astorga, in north-west Spain. The objective of our research has been to explore the complex interactions between politics, the public, and heritage management, and to evaluate their impact upon archaeology as a discipline. We draw on a participant ethnography carried out during the 2011 event. The concept of ‘Celtic-Barbarian Assemblage’ enables us to understand how different usages of the pre-Roman past condition identity politics and heritage policies at the local level. Finally, we reflect upon our findings and suggest potential lines of action to tackle what we perceive to be the increasing gap between public and academic archaeology in Spain, whose long-term consequences can be detrimental for the discipline as a whole.     

Entrepreneurial industry structures and financial institutions as agents for path dependence in Southwest Norway: the role of the macroeconomic environment

ABSTRACT

Guided by an evolutionary perspective, we study how macroeconomic shifts as an exogenous factor contribute to the endogenous roles of financial institutions and the entrepreneurial industry structure as indicators for path extension or diversification in Southwest Norway. Path extension implies that new firm formation reproduces itself with limited variation. Path diversification implies a departure from existing paths, in that entrepreneurial activities expand into unrelated or related industries. Between 1992 and 1998, we observe a departure from path extension and an increase in entrepreneurial path diversification into unrelated industries, but this trend declines in the following years. The increase and decline are stronger for Southwest Norway than for the rest of the country. Throughout the whole period of observation (1992–2011), we observe a steady decline in path diversification into related industries. Thus, Southwest Norway, and the country as a whole, experiences an extension of an industry structure that increasingly reproduces itself, which implies stronger path dependence and decreasing diversification of related and unrelated entrepreneurial activity. Financial institutions mostly reinforce path extension, even in periods when abundant capital is available, but to some degree, they also induce related path diversification.     

Human Capital in Low-Tech Manufacturing: The Geography of the Knowledge Economy in Denmark

Abstract

An essential feature associated with the rise of the knowledge economy has been the increasing focus on the importance of human capital as a precondition for economic growth. Human capital has been found to have a positive impact on the economic growth of high-tech industries, however, the influence of human capital on the development of low-tech industries is yet to be analysed. This paper provides such an examination of low-tech industries based on an analysis of employment data within manufacturing industries in Denmark in the period 1993–2006. The findings highlight, first, that human capital appears to be equally important for economic development in low-tech industries and, second, that the divide between the large urban regions, especially Copenhagen, and the rest of the country plays the primary role in explaining the geography of human capital. These findings stress the relevance of a broad conception of the knowledge economy which goes beyond high-tech industries.     

Local and territorial determinants in the realization of public–private–partnerships: an empirical analysis for Italian provinces

ABSTRACT

Relational networks and intangible factors are crucial elements for the competitiveness of a territory. Public–Private–Partnerships (PPPs), in particular, allow for the provision of goods and services that favour the exploitation of complementarities between public and private resources. They aim at promoting an increase in the overall efficiency of investment projects through a complex mechanism that distributes risk and revenues among stakeholders. This paper examines the local and territorial determinants of PPPs through an econometric analysis based upon Italian municipal data, grouped at the provincial level. Using a tobit model, we analyse the relationship between the realization of successful PPP initiatives and different sets of factors, including less analysed local and territorial determinants. We stress the role of the local management of infrastructure assets, the administrative efficiency of local authorities and the diffusion of previous local development initiatives. Local management and territorial context factors explain most of the occurrence of successful PPP initiatives in the pre-crisis period while usual determinants (infrastructure endowment and financial distress) display a weaker effect.     

HISTORICAL TRADITIONS OF CIVICNESS AND LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT*

ABSTRACT The paper investigates the importance of history for local economic performance in Italy by studying the role of social capital, which refers to trust, reciprocity and habits of co‐operation that are shared among members of a local community. The paper presents a test based on worker productivity, entrepreneurship, and female labor market participation. Using as instruments regional differences in civic involvement in the late 19th century and local systems of government in the middle ages, it shows that social capital does have economic effects.     

Crema Ware and Elite Power at Monte Albán: Ceramic Production and Iconography in the Oaxaca Valley,Mexico

Abstract

During the Terminal Formative, or Monte Albán II period (ca. 100 B.C.-A.D. 200), the Zapotec state was centered in the Oaxaca Valley, Mexico. Reassessment of ceramic data from excavations at the Zapotec capital of Monte Albán, in conjunction with data acquired from recent investigations at a secondary center (Cerro Tilcajete) and a tertiary center (Yaasuchi) in the Oaxaca Valley, sheds light on the production and distribution of elaborately decorated crema- (cream-) paste ceramics. This analysis suggests that such ceramics were produced at Monte Albán as prestige goods and distributed to local elites residing at administrative sites throughout the valley. The distribution of decorated crema vessels—and in particular, bowls bearing incised lightning motifs associated with the preeminent Zapotec deity, Cociyo—via gift-giving networks represented an attempt by elites at the capital to control local elites and integrate them into the regional sociopolitical hierarchy. Data from Cerro Tilcajete and Yaasuchi indicate that local elites at these centers acquired and used some crema vessels. These vessels were fewer in number and less varied than the cremas enjoyed by elites at the capital. Elites at Cerro Tilcajete and Yaasuchi apparently sponsored the local production of ceramics intended to imitate crema vessels. By supplementing the flow of true crema ceramics from Monte Albán, the production of local imitations would have subverted attempts by elites at the capital to control both the distribution of prestigious ceramics and the subordinate elites who desired them. This regional study of ceramics in the Oaxaca Valley illustrates the intersection of economy and ideology in state society, as well as the role that prestige goods can play in the creation and legitimization of—as well as resistance to—institutionalized sociopolitical difftrences.