Search results

This paper draws upon the idea that an organisation can be understood as an open system embedded in a larger social system. We propose that geographical proximity is a key determinant of the porous boundaries of organisations. Proximity produces repeated, trusting and long-term perspective relationships. Consequently, clustered firms (i.e. in an industrial district) develop relevant relations and interactions within this social system. Firms acquire new resources and capabilities using external endowments. In an industrial district, firms benefit from a common reputation, from an intense exchange and combination of resources, and the presence of different local institutions. As a result, firms in the industrial district may improve innovation and net-value creation capacities, which explain the competitive superiority of these firms. Our study draws on an empirical study involving a sample of 350 Spanish industrial firms in which we compared district and non-district member firms. Findings suggest relevant conclusions with respect to our theoretical propositions.

Collaborative advantage and geographical embeddedness of the firm have recently been receiving a growing amount of attention in a dynamic vision of the attainment and sustainability of the competitive advantage of firms. Concepts such as the Industrial District and Regional Cluster have been used in these studies, yet in spite of this interest little effort has been devoted to establishing links between these competitive dimensions and theories of differences in firm performance. This work consists of a multisource case study of the Spanish Ceramic Tile Industry. This empirical study focused on investigating the nature and implications of interfirm relationships and social control. The paper suggests that the competitiveness of clustered firms can be accounted for by low transaction costs and strategic knowledge-based resources.

The administrative structure of the Republic of Belarus; the main demographic, social, and economic problems currently encountered in regions, districts, cities, and other administrative divisions of the country; as well as trends and changes in regional development according to the statistics of spatial development of Belarus over the last quarter of a century have been considered. The legal and institutional framework established in Belarus for the formation, implementation, and improvement of the regional policy, as well as the related forms of state intervention in regional development (policies to minimize the effects of radioactive contamination in areas affected by the Chernobyl accident, environmental protection, town-planning and land-use policies) have been analyzed. The goals and objectives, subjects and objects, as well as the tools used by the Belarusian public authorities in the regional policy formation and implementation nationwide have been identified. The promising trends for its improvement pursued in Belarus have been formulated taking into account the foreign experience and the paradigm shift of regional development policy observed in the OECD member countries.

The aim of this chapter is to investigate the different business co-operation mechanisms within two different Portuguese industries, with particular regards to the nature of the industry and to the places in which these industries are embedded.

This chapter uses qualitative data to explore the mechanisms associated to forms of business co-operation in enterprising places.

Manufacturing industries require a particular location of activities and, in many cases, these firms cluster in local productive systems. In such cases, co-operation mechanisms assume particular forms. Production is a critical business activity in traditional manufacturing industries, while its relative importance is smaller for other industries.

The findings obtained in this research do not allow generality of the results. However, it provides an in-depth explanation of the mechanisms of business co-operation taking place in enterprising places and elsewhere.

This chapter compares two contrasting Portuguese industries, allowing to suggest that some of the business co-operation mechanisms are particular of certain business contexts. It contrasts a manufacturing, traditional and geographically concentrated industry (furniture) with a service-based, modern and geographically dispersed industry (events organisation). In addition, it allows to gain insights on the evolution of business co-operation as it uses data collected from two different generations of entrepreneurs within the furniture industry.

In the context of Saudi Arabia, this chapter investigates how clustering promotes knowledge sharing and transfer in an emerging, government-directed industry cluster. It is determined that lateral actors play a key facilitating role, and formal and informal mechanisms and interpersonal links among actors support that cluster knowledge exchange. Limited social capital strength and depth and a lack of trust that prevents knowledge sharing are partially explained by the cluster's limited vertical and horizontal actors.

Policy entrepreneurs often experience thorny dilemmas, finding themselves between the “rock and a hard place” or, as the Italian equivalent idiom would have it, between the “hammer and the anvil.” Crisis and the associated problems that arise often bring changes in politics and policy in its wake, and this begs the question of what are the resources and assets required to operate successfully as a place-based public policy entrepreneur. The role of policy entrepreneurs has been studied over many years with one of the most influential theories being the multiple streams approach (MSA) originally devised in the 1980s which sought to counter perceptions of the random or “garbage can” nature of policymaking and implementation. MSA describes a more rational process where policy entrepreneurs shape “windows” of opportunity where streams of problem, policy, and politics are brought together to create innovative responses to situations in society. The authors explore these ideas through the lens of a longitudinal case study of Labor Market policy interventions (including the role of a personal budget system for education and training called “Dote”) in the Lombardy Region, Italy, using MSA as an analytical framework. This case suggests that the pressing need to move away from short-term structural responses to complex social issues is potentially addressed by an emerging approach for the parallel deployment of sociotechnical platform infrastructure resources and superstructure. Adoption of the approaches outlined here afford streaming opportunities on which policy entrepreneurs can dynamically bring the multiple streams of problem–policy–politics together across political cycles in a more persistent and sustainable way.

This chapter applies the five drivers of productivity framework to regional microdata for Egypt and extends it by introducing an index of industrial clusters as an explanatory factor of the productivity performance of local private sector firms. Applying structural equation models, the geographic concentration of sectoral economic activity is found to have a positive and statistically significant effect on labor productivity. The transmission mechanism is conjectured to be the positive spillovers that are created, which local firms can tap into. In contrast, a higher concentration of skilled workers in an industrial sector in a region is associated with lower levels of labor productivity – a finding that suggests there may be structural deficiencies in the allocation of skilled workers. Regional policy should focus on net investments in gross capital formation throughout the country, for which the national and regional governments should improve how public investments are managed and the institutional framework – including the rule of law, bureaucracy and red tape, conflict of interest, transparency, and governance – so that private investment (both local and foreign) may substantially increase.

Purpose – To analyse the contribution of firm structure (size, clustering and foreign ownership) and strategy (subsector specialization) to the financial performance Return On Assets [ROA] of almost 10,000 European textile-clothing firms.

Methodology/approach – A panel regression analysis is conducted for five European countries that are representative of a Southern European model of clustered Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) specialized in low-value-added products (Spain, Italy and Portugal) and of a Northern European model of large vertically integrated firms specialized in high-value-added products (France and Germany) in 2002–2009.

Findings – The Northern European model has generated better financial performance than the Southern European model due to the joint role of its structure (large size) and strategy (specialization). Nevertheless, we find a positive effect of clustering in the Southern European model.

Research limitations – Clusters were defined at the NUTS II level instead of the NUTS III level. The coefficient of specialization was calculated for the pre-liberalization average.

Practical implications – Explaining the different levels of competitiveness shown by the same territorial organizational model in an industry.

Originality/value of the chapter – Work that has studied the behaviour of the firms within this territory-industry relationship is still scarce. Given that the viability of clusters and of European manufacturing have been put into question, our work evidences that the efficacy of the decisions related to the firm's structure and strategy needs to be tested jointly so that the way in which the firm addresses environmental changes can be appraised.