- Hardcover: 392 pages
- Publisher: OUP Oxford (26 Feb 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0199259402
- ISBN-13: 978-0199259403
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.4 x 2.8 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,325,348 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Changing Governance of Local Economies
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Product Description
Product Description
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-Württemberg, 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.
About the Author
Colin Crouch is currently head of the department of social and political sciences and professor of sociology at the European University Institute, Florence. He is chairman, and former joint editor, of The Political Quarterly, and chairman-elect of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE). He is also the External Scientific member of the Max-Planck-Institute for Social Research at Cologne. He has published within the fields of comparative European sociology and
industrial relations, on economic sociology, and on contemporary issues in British and European politics. He is currently studying processes of institutional innovation in the economy and in public policy, in an approach critical of recent deterministic tendencies in neo-institutionalist theories
industrial relations, on economic sociology, and on contemporary issues in British and European politics. He is currently studying processes of institutional innovation in the economy and in public policy, in an approach critical of recent deterministic tendencies in neo-institutionalist theories
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
In a previous work, the present group of editors gave an account of 'local production systems' in the four largest western European countries (Crouch et al. 2001). Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
In a previous work, the present group of editors gave an account of 'local production systems' in the four largest western European countries (Crouch et al. 2001). Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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