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

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Colin Crouch (, Chairman of the Department of Political and Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology, European University Institute, Florence) Patrick Le Galès (, Senior Researcher at CEVIFOP-CNRS, Paris)

Changing Governance of Local Economies

Responses of European Local Production Systems

Colin Crouch (, Chairman of the Department of Political and Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology, European University Institute, Florence), Patrick Le Galès (, Senior Researcher at CEVIFOP-CNRS, Paris), Carlo Trigilia (, Professor of Economic Sociology at the University of Florence) , Helmut Voelzkow (, Senior Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Society Research, Cologne)

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English

Oxford University Press
01 April 2004

Domestic trade; Economic systems & structures; Small businesses & self-employed; Industry & industrial studies; Economic geography

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.

By: Colin Crouch ( Chairman of the Department of Political and Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology European University Institute Florence), Patrick Le Galès (, Senior Researcher at CEVIFOP-CNRS, Paris), Carlo Trigilia (, Professor of Economic Sociology at the University of Florence), Helmut Voelzkow (, Senior Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Society Research, Cologne)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 242mm, Width: 162mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 1g
ISBN: 9780199259403
ISBN 10: 0199259402
Pages: 392
Publication Date: 01 April 2004
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

1: Colin Crouch and Helmut Voelzkow: Introduction Part I: Established Local Production Systems: The Machinery Industries 2: Colin Crouch: Introduction: The European Machinery Industry Under Pressure 3: Henry Farrell and Ann-Louise Holten: Collective Goods in the Local Economy: The Packaging Machinery Cluster in Bologna 4: Ulrich Glassmann: Refining National Policy: The Machine Tool Industry in the Local Economy of Stuttgart 5: Colin Crouch and Joe O'Mahoney: Machine Tooling in the United Kingdom 6: Patrick Le Galès and Nicolas Gaubert: Machine Tools in France: A Century of Failure to Build a Competitive Industry 7: Colin Crouch: Conclusions: Hybrid Governance and Networked Firms Part II: Trying to Establish Local Production Systems: The Ex-Steel Cities 8: Helmut Voelzkow: Introduction: The Reconstruction of Declining Local Economies in Europe 9: Ulrich Glassmann and Helmut Voelzkow: Duisburg: A New Local Production System Substitutes an Old Steel Plant 10: Patrick Le Galès and Oliver Tirmarche: Life after Industrial Decline in St. Etienne: Robust SMEs, Deterritorialization, and the Making of a Local Mode of Governance 11: Colin Crouch and Martin Scott Hill: Regeneration in Sheffield: From Council Dominance to Partenership 12: Annalisa Tonarelli: Industrial Decline and Local Development Policies in the Steel Area of Piombino 13: Patrick Le Galès: Conclusion: After Steel: Some Minor Emergence of Local Production Systems Based on SMEs Part III: New Local Production Systems: High-Tech Sectors 14: Carlo Trigilia: Introduction: High-Tech Districts 15: Neil Proudfoot: The Biopharmaceutical Cluster in Oxford 16: Arne Baumann and Helmut Voelzkow: Recombining Governance Modes: The Media Sector in Cologne 17: Andrea Biagiotti and Luigi Burroni: Between Cities and Districts: Local Software Systems in Italy 18: Valeria Aniello: Grenoble Valley 19: Carlo Trigilia: Conclusions: The Distinctive Needs of High-Tech Districts 20: Patrick Le Galès and Carlo Trigilia: Conclusions

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 Patrick Le Galès is a CNRS Research Professor in Sociology and Politics at CEVIPOF/Sciences Po, Paris, where he teaches. He has been a visitor at Nuffield College, Oxford, and the Maison Française, Oxford. He edits the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. His recent work includes Les Économies Politiques du Capitalisme (with B. Palier, 2002) and European Cities: Social Conflicts and Governance (OUP 2002). Carlo Trigilia is Professor of Economic Sociology at the University of Florence. His recent works includes Economics Sociology: State, Market, and Society in Modern Capitalism (2002). Helmut Voelzkow is a wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter at the Max Planck Institute for Society Research at Cologne, where he works on economic sociology, economic structural change and policy, and technological development. He gained his Habilitation at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Faultät für Sozialwissenschaft. His publications include Mehr Technik in die Region (1990) and Private Regierungen in der Techniksteuerung (1996).

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

...the book is useful for an immersion in the subject, researchers working in the field, no doubt, will find it pleasant because of the precise natural style of the authors, who are pioneers and leaders in the field. Hugo A. Morales, Mathematical Reviews