Quality, space and regional competition : conceptualizing a 'quality model'

• In the wake of globalization a new economic and competitive landscape has developed and, from both a research and policy perspective, increased efforts are being put into understanding and stimulating innovativeness. However, in this paper it is argued that innovation, or innovativeness, is perhaps insufficient when competing on global markets, at least in certain types of industries where performance, standards, and perceptions of the product are at the forefront. In addition to existing theory we focus on the role of ‘quality’ in creating and sustaining regional competitive advantage. A quality model is introduced as a tool for understanding and analyzing the role of quality in relation to spatial embeddedness and geographical scales. Quality is here identified as a promise or a set of promises, experienced, constructed, mediated and negotiated by a variety of actors: producers, customers/consumers, and intermediaries. These promises are divided into three quality indicators and mechanisms identifying different states and processes stimulating quality creation, labelled performance, projection, and protection. The paper argues that a focus on quality processes and the relation to space contributes to the understanding of regional competitiveness. Regional competitiveness is arguably achieved when: a) quality perception and knowledge permeate all actors and their activities and are inherent throughout the value chain; b) a good or a service is well represented in one or more of the quality indicators of the model; and c) space is an integral part of these processes in that it facilitates i) localized learning/localization economies and ii) place-based branding.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Social och ekonomisk geografi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Social and Economic Geography (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Human geography, economic geography

Kulturgeografi, ekonomisk geografi

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

rap (subject category)