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

This book features case studies on national patterns of local production systems, focusing on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in France, Germany, Italy, and the UK. It is divided into three parts. Part I analyses the two cases that dominated the initial, 1980s industrial district literature: Emilia-Romagna and Baden Wurttemberg; and the machinery industry. Part II focuses on pre-crisis, large-firm, Fordist specialization. Part III presents examples of new industries where SME clusters are important: the biopharmaceutical industries around Oxford, the media sector in Cologne, information technology in Pisa, and computer technologies in Grenoble.1 Introduction Part I Established Local Production Systems: The Machinery Industries 2 The European Machinery Industry Under Pressure 3 Collective Goods in the Local Economy: The Packaging Machinery Cluster in Bologna 4 Refining National Policy: The Machine-Tool Industry in the Local Economy of Stuttgart 5 Machine Tooling in the United Kingdom 6 Machine Tools in France: A Century of Failure to Build a Competitive Industry 7 Hybrid Governance and Networked Firms Part II Trying to Establish Local Production Systems: The Ex-Steel Cities 8 The Reconstruction of Declining Local Economies in Europe 9 Restructuring Duisburg: A New Local Production System Substitutes an Old Steel Plant 10 Life After Industrial Decline in St Etienne: Robust SMEs, Deterritorialization, and the Making of a Local Mode of Governance 11 Regeneration in Sheffield: From Council Dominance to Partnership 12 Industrial Decline and Local Development Policies in the Steel Area of Piombino 13 After Steel: Some Minor Emergence of Local Production Systems Based on SMEs Part III New Local Production Systems: High-Tech Sectors 14 High-Tech Districts 15 The Biopharmaceutical Cluster in Oxford 16 Recombining Governance Modes: The Media Sector in Cologne 17 Between Cities and Districts: Local Software Systems in Italy 18 Grenoble Valley 19 The Governance of High-Tech Districts 20 Conclusion