| 1. |
- Grillitsch, Markus, et al.
(författare)
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When drivers of clusters shift scale from local towards global : What remains for regional innovation policy?
- 2019
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Ingår i: Geoforum. - : Elsevier BV. - 0016-7185. ; 102, s. 57-68
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Industries and regional economies evolve as a result of the interplay between local and non-local factors. Increasing globalization of both production- and innovation activities implies a shift in the relevant scales of interaction from the local towards the global level. This paper is concerned with the implications of such scale shifts for the role of the region and for cluster-related regional policies. It examines what is left of the role of regional settings in fostering economic development when extra-regional drivers of change increase in importance. We investigate this crucial question with two in-depth case studies of the medical technologies sector, in which such scale shifts have been particularly pronounced. Our findings from empirical material collected in Scania/Sweden and Vienna/Austria illustrate the ways in which changes in national and supra-national regulatory frameworks have had a profound impact on the innovation activities of individual firms and the way to develop and launch new products, and subsequently on the regions in which they cluster. Such scale-shifts have, on the one hand, limited the potential for regional policy to shape the cluster's path through support for supply-side factors. Yet some critical assets remain local but are increasingly difficult to access. By addressing such barriers to access, regional policy can still strongly affect the opportunities for innovation. Furthermore, in an increasingly open industry system, we see an expanded role for regional policy in supporting firms to access critical assets and sources of innovation found external to the region.
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| 2. |
- Rekers, Josephine V., et al.
(författare)
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Investigating Agency: Methodological and Empirical Challenges
- 2019
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The literature on regional development increasingly recognizes that agency is an essential but understudied factor in processes of regional structural change. However, much like the fundamental debates in social sciences about agency and structure, work in this field has often remained theoretical. Investigating the role of agency in regional economic development, systematically and at the micro-level, comes with a great deal of challenges. In this paper we ask the question: What are these challenges and how can they be addressed?In an effort to combine general methodological considerations with concrete empirical practicalities, we share our own struggles in developing an adequate methodology for the ReGrow (Regional Growth Against All Odds) project. There we conduct twelve comparative in-depth case studies that zoom in on the role of agency in regional development. In the process of conducting the case studies, we have reflected, revised, and improved the methodology and identified six main challenges: Getting the ontology right, Getting the research design right, Getting the time period right, Getting the spatial scale right, Getting the research instruments right, and Getting the data collection right.In this paper we discuss these challenges in turn, as well as our strategies to overcome them. In doing so, we provide methodological insights and guidance to other scholars of agency and structure in regional development.
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| 3. |
- Rekers, Josephine V., et al.
(författare)
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”We were only managing our legacy” Forms of agency in Olofström’s development path from supply chain to regional cluster
- 2019
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The labour market region of Olofström-Karlshamn experienced a period of exceptional economic decline between 2007 and 2010, prompted primarily by the job loss that resulted from restructuring within Volvo. In December 2008 around 1000 jobs disappeared overnight, throwing the municipality of 15000 people into crisis, and further rippling through the region. This is a story of a peripheral region dependent on manufacturing employment that is not uncommon in Sweden, the Nordic countries and elsewhere. However, the downward spiral of this development path was temporary: jobs were regained sooner than expected and the region is no longer a negative outlier when it comes to regional growth performance. What was once a Volvo-centric supply chain can now more suitable be considered an actively coordinated cluster. How did this happen? What changes in terms of network structures, institutions and policy priorities underlie the region’s development trajectory? In this paper, we use original interview material to investigate different forms of agency that emerged following the crisis, their combination, and the resources, networks and motivations that allowed individuals to take initiatives and act (or not). This paper thereby contributes a much needed micro-level perspective on regional economic change, foregrounding the role of agency in shaping regional development paths.
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| 4. |
- Stihl, Linda, et al.
(författare)
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Agency, regional development and local context: Micro-level evidence from an old industrial region
- 2019
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this paper we answer the call for a micro-level perspective on regional economic change, in peripheral regions in particular. Using an in-depth and comparative case study approach, we investigate how agency shapes regional development paths, and how agency is in turn shaped by local context. The performance of a single labor market often hides the very different strategies taken by decision-makers in different municipalities.Our case is not uncommon in Sweden or elsewhere: A peripheral region that is dependent on employment in the manufacturing sector dominated by large firms that are have their headquarters elsewhere. This dependency leaves such old industrial regions vulnerable to shocks. The labor market region of Olofström-Karlshamn experienced a period of exceptional economic decline between 2007 and 2010, prompted by restructuring in the automotive industry. In December 2008, around 1000 jobs disappeared overnight, throwing a municipality of 15000 people into crisis, and further rippling through the region. In the small municipality of Olofström, this shock prompted several collaborative initiatives to regain jobs lost, to lower the dependency on Volvo Cars, and to diversify the economy. By 2017, the 1000 jobs lost had been regained and what used to function as a loyal supplier base to Volvo and the rest of the automotive industry, is now actively coordinated as a regional cluster where firms collaborate and where effort is put into diversifying their customer base and market. In the neighboring municipality of Karlshamn, where Volvo was also the largest private sector employer, the crisis did not trigger major initiatives. Whereas Olofström appears to have changed industrial path organizationally (more cluster like), industrially (more diversified), and institutionally (collaborative), Karlshamn had been changing more gradually, less unified over a much longer period.In this paper, we use original, micro-level material from 23 interviews and supporting documents to provide a much needed micro-level perspective on regional economic change, foregrounding the role of agency in shaping regional development paths. It also sheds light on the role of non-firm actors in path creation, that otherwise receives little attention. The contribution of this paper is two-fold. First, we identify the motivations, resources and networks that prompt individuals, or groups of individuals, to take different kinds of initiatives. These forms of agency cumulatively change the organization and culture of the industrial path of the region. Second, we use our comparative cases to show that a single trigger can unleash change agency in one local context, but not nearly to the same effect in another, despite sharing the same regional structural conditions. Change agency is therefore highly dependent on the presence of specific enabling and constraining factors in the local context.
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