Chair for Economic and Social Geography Paper by

industries are compared, applying an approach that combines elements from regulation theory with recent insights from regional development theories focussing on networks, learning and untraded interdependencies. Trends of spatial and organizational change in the sector are identified and used to characterize the development of the sector in the German-Polish border area. In Poland and East-Germany national transformation policies and strategies of large firms yielded quite different results for economic development and spatial integration. For firms in the border area this added to the fragmentation of the industry caused by barriers that hinder cross border exchange. Differences between firms on both sides with respect to production structure, spatial integration and cooperation with other institutions are explored through a survey and conclusions for policies to strengthen economic integration in the border area are presented