The challenge of constructing regional advantages in peripheral areas: The case of marine biotechnology in Tromsø, Norway

The idea of constructing regional advantage (CRA) has recently been emphasized by scholars as a new way for firms to gain competitiveness in a globalizing learning economy. The rationale behind the idea is that advantages in a regional industry can be constructed by proactive public–private partnership. This article uses, and examines the relevance of, the CRA framework in analysing the development and functioning of the marine biotechnology industry in Tromsø, which is a fairly peripheral region in Norway. Despite the fact that much effort has been put into education and R&D at the University of Tromsø and related research institutes, and the fact that many public policy tools have intended to create a blooming marine biotechnology industry in the area, the results have so far been meagre. This article explains the rather weak results in terms of the number of firms and jobs in the marine biotechnology industry in Tromsø as being due to a lack of synthetic knowledge on how to industrialize research results and little spillover of market knowledge. With regard to more general theoretical lessons linked to the CRA framework, this article argues for seeing the concept of related variety in a broader industrial and geographical sense in peripheral regions.     

关于自发型产业集群构建区域品牌策略的研究

区域品牌对自发型产业集群的发展具有重要的意义,自发型产业集群内多是中小企业,单个企业打造具有影响力的品牌非常困难,需要借助区域品牌来提升竞争力,开拓市场。做大集群的产业规模是区域品牌形成的基础,培育企业名牌是对区域品牌的重要支撑。     

物流产业与高技术产业协同集聚水平测度及影响因素分析——基于长三角三省一市的实证研究

运用2008~2019年长三角三省一市的年鉴数据,测度物流产业与高技术产业的专业化集聚水平及两产业的协同集聚水平,然后利用多元线性模型分析产业协同集聚的影响因素。研究结果显示,长三角整体物流产业与高技术产业的集聚水平较高,但各地区具有较大差异;上海市的物流产业与高技术产业协同集聚水平一直处于长三角地区的最前沿;同时地区经济发展水平、产业结构、资本投入强度及交通基础设施水平对物流产业与高技术产业的协同集聚水平具有提升作用,而对外开放水平、政府干预、科研投入水平和人力资本水平对产业协同集聚的作用则相反。     

Entrepreneurial renewal in a peripheral region: the case of a winter automotive-testing cluster in Sweden

This research paper generates new insights into renewal processes that may occur in peripheral regions. Key findings are presented from an explorative study on a regionally clustered automotive-testing industry, located in northern Sweden. The findings suggest that despite theoretically unfavourable conditions it is possible to progress regional industry after a peripheral setting's socio-economic relapses. Moreover, this research shows how, notwithstanding the importance of profitable service offerings, an entrepreneurial environment can be encouraged within a peripheral region and subsequent renewal achieved by advancing local networks, improving internationalization and enhancing local infrastructures related to a service-based regional industry. Consequently this research offers us a glimpse into a pioneering service-based renewal case which, in essence, differs from previously reported entrepreneurship scholarship.     

Post‐Reunification Restructuring and Corporate Re‐bundling in the Bitterfeld‐Wolfen Chemical Industry,East Germany

While earlier research has shown that regional restructuring after reunification has led to broad de‐industrialization processes in eastern Germany's chemical industry, this article focuses on how re‐bundling processes at the corporate level have stimulated adjustments to the changing economic and political environment leading to a renewed regional development trajectory. The analysis is based on a conceptualization that assesses diachronic processes of rupture and re‐bundling by applying a bottom‐up perspective of how corporate adjustments and restructuring processes generate re‐bundling types that manifest themselves in broader regional re‐bundling scenarios. The empirical analysis focuses on a qualitative case study of Bitterfeld‐Wolfen, the eastern region with the largest chemical industry. The research provides evidence that, although new firm formation has remained weak and acquisitions of chemical multinationals have generated structures only tenuously embedded in the regional economy, modernization and re‐bundling process have contributed to a renewed, smaller yet stable, regional chemical industry. The analysis further shows that the associated processes depended on the roles of individual industrial leaders in the region, who acted as network builders, mobilized joint action and stimulated the development of a collective regional spirit.     

ICT policies for SMEs and regional disparities. The Spanish case

The effective incorporation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in business is not something that takes place homogeneously or always with the same speed, particularly in the case of small and medium-sized firms (SMEs). Obviously, the adaptation process of these technologies by the firms affects, and at the same time is conditioned by, the economic dynamics of the regions. The European Union and the national and regional governments have designed programmes and policies oriented towards strengthening the effective development and application of the ICT in small and medium-sized firms. This paper deals with these subjects taking the Spanish case as a point of reference. First, significant data are presented to show the situation in different regions. Second, a more detailed analysis is made of the promotion policies applied in three regions taken as a case study. From this, certain conclusions are drawn and some critical comments are made.     

京津冀区域产业协同发展路径探析

区域经济一体化是市场经济发展的趋势,京津冀地区具有巨大的发展潜力,充分发挥各地产业优势,实现三地产业的协调发展,对促进京津冀区域经济发展具有重要意义。分析了京津冀区域产业协同发展的必要性,阐明了三地协同发展的制约因素,提出京津冀区域协同发展的实施路径。     

基于产业集群升级的区域品牌发展之路

纵观我国产业集群区域品牌的建设历程,区域品牌的形成路径主要有"品牌俱乐部型"、"市场自发演化型"、"政府政策主导型"三种,每种路径有自身不同的特点。但是要发展好区域品牌给予其持续的发展动力,更好地推动产业集群升级,必须从内外两个方面着手制定区域品牌发展战略。即对内要建立良好的产业集群内部合作竞争机制,对外要完善区域品牌发展的创新、服务、技术和政府支持等环境。     

The dynamics of regional specialization and cluster formation: dividing trajectories of maritime industries in two Norwegian regions

The theoretical starting point of this paper is the academic debate on regional specialization, agglomeration and industrial clusters. The paper offers further insights into the industrial dynamics within regional contexts by combining two approaches: (1) an historical study of industrial agency focusing on entrepreneurship, diversification and specialization; (2) a study of the relations within contemporary industrial systems important for industrial upgrading. Methodical triangulation has provided longitudinal studies. Particular attention is paid to path dependence as well as entrepreneurial capacity in order to explain why the industrial trajectories of matching regions divide. As the paper discusses continuity and change, a more dynamic perspective on path dependency is introduced. The past is not just regarded as a constraint, but as heritage as well. The dynamics leading to cluster formation and upgrading as well as industrial fragmentation are investigated in detail. The developments of shipyards and related maritime industries of the two Norwegian regions compared are characterized by static continuity and dynamic continuity, respectively.     

以蚌埠为中心的皖北地区物流业发展研究

物流业对一个地区的发展起着至关重要的作用，发展区域物流业即是满足它自身需要的要求，也是其加快经济发展、提升产业结构的一个重要机遇。我们在深入分析皖北地区发展物流业的优势、劣势、机遇和威胁的基础上，提出建设区域供应链一体化物流园区，打造服务型政府等建议。     

Entrepreneurship,innovation and regional performance: application for the Spanish regions

Abstract

The aim of this study is to test the importance of entrepreneurship or new business formation for explaining differences in economic performance in the Spanish regions, together with the role played by the endowments of innovation capital and the socio-economic capabilities of every region. The results show that the effect of new business formation on economic performance varies considerably between regions, and the type of start-up is highly important for the results obtained: entrepreneur endowments of high technology intensive sectors and medium technology intensive sectors, but not those of low technology intensive sectors, have a positive effect on regional performance. Also, the size of the start-ups is important for explaining regional development.     

China's Emergent City‐Region Governance: A New Form of State Spatial Selectivity through State‐orchestrated Rescaling

This article examines the emergence of city‐region governance as a specific state spatial selectivity in post‐reform China. The process has been driven by the state in response to the crisis of economic decentralization, and to vicious inter‐city competition and uncoordinated development. As part of the recentralization of state power, the development of urban clusters (chengshiqun) as interconnected city‐regions is now a salient feature of ‘new urbanization' policy. I argue in this article that the Chinese city‐region corresponds to specific logics of scale production. Economic globalization has led to the development of local economies and further created the need to foster ‘regional competitiveness'. To cope with regulatory deficit at the regional level, three mechanisms have been orchestrated by the state: administrative annexation, spatial plan preparation and regional institution building, which reflect recent upscaling in post‐reform governance.     

意大利家具产业集群发展的经验对我国区域产业发展的启示

研究国外产业集群的经验与做法,对于积极推动区域产业发展有重要的现实意义。由于我国产业集群大部分也是中小企业组成,这一点和意大利家具产业集群非常相似,对于现阶段的我国有必要借鉴国外产业集群发展的经验,从而把握区域产业发展的一些特性,根据产业集群发展的一般规律,对已经或正在形成的产业集群加大扶持力度,以集群化作为区域产业发展战略的重点。     

基于产业集群环境下的泉州物流业发展研究

随着产业经济的发展,在区域经济中涌现出了大量各具特色的产业集群。以福建省泉州市为例,泉州产业集群经济快速发展,是全市经济发展的重要组成部分,泉州也成为了全国产业集群效应最明显的地区之一。区域经济的快速发展给物流业提供了良好的机会,然而当前泉州市物流业发展还远远不能满足产业集群经济发展的需要,产业集群经济对物流业提出了更高的要求。因此,只有加快解决物流业现存的问题才能更好地服务于区域经济,为加快产业集群优化升级和区域经济的发展做出贡献。     

陕西省产业集群与区域经济发展的相关性分析

随着东部发达地区产业集群条件的逐步形成,陕西省必须加强产业集群的培育与发展,提高工业化水平;发挥产业集群的优势,加快城市化进程。为此,有必要对陕西省产业集群与区域经济发展的相关性进行分析,进一步对产业集群发展、工业化、城市化的互动进行实证。     

政府在协调区域产业结构中经济政策的均衡性体现

我国区域经济实际上既以行政区域的形式表现出来,又以一定量的行政区域板块组成经济区域的形式存在。区域产业结构的调整与优化,本质上就是正确地选择区域主导产业,合理确定其发展数量和规模,使之承担起全国区域分工的任务,以此为核心,协调各产业之间在数量和比例上的关系。     

State entrepreneurship and regional development: Singapore's industrial parks in Batam and Suzhou

This paper examines a case of state entrepreneurship and regional development through an analysis of the Singaporean government's ‘regional industrial parks’ programme, which began in 1990. To the Singaporean government, this programme was an entrepreneurial venture because it was designed to generate profits through developing, leasing and managing industrial estates in selected locations across the Asia Pacific region. This paper examines two such regional industrial parks, situated in Batam (Indonesia) and Suzhou (China). It finds that as an entrepreneurial venture, the parks have both successes and failures. In addition, the two parks have had different developmental impacts. The paper concludes by arguing that although the entrepreneurial state's strategies are important, host governments must act on these strategies effectively in order to achieve sustained economic development.     

Regional engagement of locally anchored firms and its influence on socio-economic development in two peripheral regions over time

Abstract

This article sets out to explore the ways locally anchored firms in peripheral regions influence regional social capital through regional engagement and how this contributes to socio-economic development. Through regional engagement firms shape regional contexts by generating concrete outcomes, such as setting up schools (structural aspect) and by possibly influencing regional bonding and bridging social capital (social aspect). To examine the effects of regional engagement and its possible influence on bonding and bridging social capital of regional firms, an analytical framework is developed distinguishing between inclusive/exclusive agency for inclusive/exclusive benefit. This article focuses on regional engagement in two Swiss peripheral regions, which have followed different development paths in spite of their common institutional framework and geographical proximity. This study aims to gain insight into the ‘how’ of regional engagement and its influence on regional social capital and to examine the assumption of higher levels of regional social capital in a dynamic region from a long-term perspective (ca. 1850–2015). The findings of the qualitative research show that the dynamic Rhine Valley indeed disposes of higher levels of regional social capital than the less dynamic Toggenburg, which is related to the willingness of firms and other actors to collaborate for regional interests.     

Industrial clusters,flagship enterprises and regional innovation

ABSTRACT

For a sample of all 88 counties in the State of Ohio over a 5-year period, this study documents the effect of flagship enterprises and concentrated industrial clusters on regional innovation. Consistent with the agglomeration arguments and the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship, both appear to affect regional innovation positively. Additionally, regional educational attainment positively moderates the effect of industrial clusters on innovation. At the same time, flagship enterprises primarily affect regional innovation in regions with low education levels. Results are obtained with the help of conservative econometric techniques and are robust to the choice of alternative dependent variables and estimators. The findings have major policy implications and provide insights into alternative routes to encouraging regional innovation.     

区域产业集群竞争优势构建——基于产业集群与区域创新能力互动关系视角

提升产业集群可持续竞争优势,区域创新能力可能是突破点。本文认为区域创新能力与区域产业集群之间实现互动,能为产业集群拥有竞争优势提供保障,从而促进区域经济可持续发展。产业集群的发展能够为提升区域创新能力提供所需的新知识、新信息;区域创新能力的提升能推动产业结构的调整与优化等,并促进产业集群的发展。本文通过进一步延伸探讨两者的互动关系发现,区域创新能力的加强,能够从开发新技术、引进人才、调整产业结构等方面提升区域产业集群的竞争优势。集群竞争优势的提升还需要全区域各方力量的共同努力,培育创新链条,营造良好的创新环境。