L2 - regional worlds of production Flashcards
Geographical industrialisation
Storper and Walker, 1989
- emphasises need for dynamic-evolutionary view at how regions develop
- regional resources initially attract firms but less the case now
- firms generate own input rather than rely on existing resources = ‘industries create regional resources’ (Storper and Walker, 1989)
Windows of local opportunity
- industry starts in area where another is present = already active labour
- industries become obsolete = new tech supersedes importance of industry = new industry starts up
developments include AI and IT
Clustering
- place remains fundamental = every component of GPN, firm, econ activity is ‘grounded’ (due to investments)
- localised social relationships develop over time
- Econ activity is local and place specific in its nature = not fundamentally altered by globalisation
- key part of global space-economy
- bound together by contractual and social-cultural relations
Global urban map
- labour size/pool reaches critical point = more workers want to join = more opportunities in city, less in hinterland
- rapid urban growth = AGGLOMERATION ECONOMIES
Agglomeration economies
- refer to the benefits that can accrue from co-location of Econ activities
- cane urbanisation or localisation economies
urbanisation economies
clusters creates potential for sharing costs of wide range of infrastructure and services among diverse firms, and for accessing large urban markets (economies of scale)
localisation economies
cost savings deriving from firms within same or related industry
- may derive from pool of specialised labour, or development of knowledge
Traded interdependencies
- created by firms co-located in a cluster alongside suppliers, partners, customers where they have trading relationships
- proximity to firms decreases cost of transport, communication, exchange and customers
- inherent to post-Fordist production systems = process of vertical disintegration
Untraded interdependencies
- less tangible = surround social and cultural basis of Econ cluster (Storper, 1997)
- less tangible benefits of being located in same place (e.g. having pool of labour)
- tacit knowledge (common knowledge) = increased knowledge exchange
Creative class
- shows importance of people driving Econ growth rather than business climate
- super-creative core of scientists, engineers, professors, etc
processes of knowledge transfer
- staff turnover
- shared supplies
- birth and deaths of firms
- industry gossip
Type of industrial clusters
- labour intensive craft production (sweatshop labour)
- design intensive craft production
- high tech innovations
- flexible production hub-and-spoke
- business service
- consumption
Bringing types of clusters together
- some clusters may be hybrids of type (Coe, 2001)
- most city/regional economies exhibit range of different cluster types within their territory
Critiques of clusters
- scale = needs precision or can become meaningless
- assumes importance of local processes
- role of state = who wins/loses
Define regional development
dynamic outcome of complex interaction between territorialised relation networks and GPNs in the the context of changing regional governance structures (Coe et al, 2004)
