Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Changing Governance of Local Economies: Responses of European Local Production Systems

Contents:

Author Info

  • Crouch, Colin

    (Chairman of the Department of Political and Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology, European University Institute, Florence)

  • Le Gales, Patrick

    (Senior Researcher at CEVIFOP-CNRS, Paris)

  • Trigilia, Carlo

    (Professor of Economic Sociology at the University of Florence)

  • Voelzkow, Helmut

    (Senior Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Society Research, Cologne)

Registered author(s):

    Abstract

    This book examines patterns of economic governance in three specific, contrasting, contexts: machinery-producing districts; declining steel cities; and clusters of high-technology activities. Building on the work of their previous book (Local Production Systems in Europe: Rise or Demise? OUP 2001), which charted the recent development of local clusters of specialized manufacturing among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom, the authors find patterns of economic governance far more complex and dynamic than usually described in a literature which insists on identifying simple national approaches. The machinery industries were often identified in the literature of the 1980s as prominent cases of industrial district formation, which were then considerably weakened by the crises of the mid-1990s. Did clustering help these industries and their associated districts to respond to challenge, or only weaken them further? The case studies focus on the Bologna and Modena area of Emilia-Romagna, Stuttgart in Baden-Wurttemberg, Birmingham and Coventry in the English west midlands, but generally in France where there are very few local concentrations. Even while some thought local production systems were in crisis, national governments and the European Commission continued to recommend their approach to areas experiencing economic decline. This was particularly the case for cities that had been dependent on a small number of large corporations in industries that would no longer be major employers. Political and business leaders in these areas were encouraged to diversify, in particular through SMEs. Could this be done in response to external pressure, given that successful local production systems depend on endogenous vitality? The authors ask these questions of former steel-producing cities St. Etienne, Duisburg, Piombino, and Sheffield. The idea that local production systems had had their day was challenged by clear evidence of clustering among SMEs in a number of flourishing high-tech industries in parts of the USA and western Europe. Why do scientists, other specialists and firms actively embedded in global networks, bother with geographical proximity? This question is addressed by examining the software firms at Grenoble, the mass media cluster in Cologne, the information technology sector around Pisa, and the Oxfordshire biotechnology region. Available in OSO: http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/content/economicsfinance/0199259402/toc.html Contributors to this volume - Valeria Aniello, CEVIFOP-CNRS, Paris Arne Baumann, Green Party, Berlin Andrea Biagiotti, Department of Political Science and Sociology, University of Florence Luigi Burroni, Department of Political Science and Sociology, University of Florence, and European University Insitute, Florence Colin Crouch, European University Institute, Florence Henry Farrell, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto Nicolas Gaubert, Institut d'Urbanisme, University of Paris XII Ulrich Glassmann, Forschungsintitut fur Politische Wissenschaften und EuropaischeFragen, University of Cologne Ann-Louise Holten, Department of Social and Political Science, European University Institute, Florence Patrick Le Gales, CEVIFOP-CNRS, Paris Joe O'Mahoney, Lancaster University Neil Proudfoot, Societe Generale, London Martin Scott Hill, UK Department of Work and Pensions Oliver Tirmarche, Centre de Sociologie des Organizations, Scinces Po, Paris Annalisa Tonarelli, Department of Political Science and Sociology, University of Florence Carlo Trigilia, University of Florence Helmut Voelzkow, Max Planck Institute for Society Research at Cologne

    Download Info

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below under "Related research" whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Bibliographic Info

    as in new window
    This book is provided by Oxford University Press in its series OUP Catalogue with number 9780199259403 and published in 2004.

    ISBN: 9780199259403
    Order: http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199259403.do
    Handle: RePEc:oxp:obooks:9780199259403

    Contact details of provider:
    Web page: http://www.oup.com/

    Order Information:
    Web: http://www.oup.com/

    Related research

    Keywords:

    References

    No references listed on IDEAS
    You can help add them by filling out this form.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as in new window

    Cited by:
    1. Josh Whitford & Aldo Enrietti, 2005. "Surviving the Fall of a King: The Regional Institutional Implications of Crisis at Fiat Auto," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 771-795, December.
    2. Cerami, Alfio, 2007. "Social Change and Welfare State Developments in CEE and Russia," MPRA Paper 8479, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Stijn Oosterlynck & Yuri Kazepov & Andreas Novy & Pieter Cools & Eduardo Barberis & Florian Wukovitsch & Tatiana Saruis & Bernhard Leubolt, 2013. "The butterfly and the elephant: local social innovation, the welfare state and new poverty dynamics," ImPRovE Working Papers 13/03, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    4. Antonio Cecchi & Enrico Giovannetti, 2006. "Spatial Mismatch and Mobility Involvements: a Common Approach for the Urban Sprawl Parma-Bologna," Center for the Analysis of Public Policies (CAPP) 0026, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Economia Politica.
    5. Astrid Winkler, 2007. "Torino City Report," CASE Reports casereport41, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.

    Lists

    This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oxp:obooks:9780199259403

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Economics Book Marketing).

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

    If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.