Common Frameworks for Regional Competitiveness - Insights from a Number of Local Knowledge Economies

1. Aims of the paper: in this paper we analysed a number of European regions that in the last ten to fifteen years experienced a process of industrial reconversion moving from traditional sectors-based economies to knowledge economies. With the aim of shaping the transformation paths driving their competitiveness recovery, the analysis was conducted on two levels. First, we tried to identify the most relevant factors of competitiveness behind each region’s renewal process and combined them to shape a number of common trajectories of regional competitiveness. Secondly, we outlined a taxonomy of transformation paths followed by each of the territories under investigation in their development process towards a knowledge economy. Interestingly, all regional ‘success histories’ are strongly dependent on the presence of a tri-polar regional innovation system (RIS) ‘gluing’ firms, institutions and academia. 2. Factors and trajectories of regional competitiveness: Some of the factors of regional competitiveness identified in the analysis (exhaustively listed and described in the full paper) are entrepreneurial motivation, managerial skills, access to private and public financing, the presence of a local technical university. By combining the competitiveness factors specific to each regional ‘success history’, we were able to spot a number of trajectories of regional competitiveness : (i) the Nokia economies trajectory, (ii) the knowledge creation upon invitation trajectory and (iii) the Cambridge way trajectory. The first trajectory includes the Nordic regions of Tampere and Goteborg. The leading factors of development of these regions can be brought back to the successful development strategies of Ericsson and Nokia, in turn based on excellent managerial and organisational skills and a strong international orientation. The second trajectory of regional competitiveness refers to Ireland, Scotland and Wales, characterized by an ‘industrialisation upon invitation’ type of growth based on foreign direct investments. The policy of FDI attraction is largely supported by public incentives and owes its success to the leading role taken up by regional development agencies. The last trajectory of regional competitiveness relates to the high tech cluster of Cambridge (UK), emerged and developed essentially thanks to the active role of Cambridge University in nurturing the cluster with human capital of excellence and in allowing the faculty members to commercially exploit their skills and technical know how. The most interesting result of this part of the analysis is that the regions under scrutiny owe their virtuous process of competitiveness recovery to three sets of factors, each originating from one of the three territorial actors making up a regional innovation system – firms, institutions, university – so that behind each regional renewal history it is possible to recognize the presence and the ‘functioning’ of a RIS. 3. A taxonomy of regional transformation paths: Next, we classified the development dynamics of the regions investigated above along three paths of economic restructuring. The first path, here defined as the RIS into process, is typical of industrial clusters in engineering-based sectors such as plant engineering, specialised advanced machinery and shipbuilding. Here the relationship with the RIS is developed at a later stage of the cluster life, as the RIS originates in response to the presence of the cluster. This is the case of a number of regions under scrutiny (Baden-Württemberg and Brabant, for instance) where the regional innovation system was specifically designed to support and strengthen local existing industrial specializations. The second regional development path, typical of industrial clustering in science-based sectors such as genetics, IT and biotechnology, follows the opposite ‘direction’. Here the RIS is the main source of the cluster creation and the cluster develops from the regional innovation system by exploiting all the local resources in terms of cooperation and interaction with universities and local institutions. This is the case of regions such as Shannon and Cambridge (UK), which have followed a transformation process here defined as RIS from process, where the pre-existence of the RIS represents a key factor for the organization of a science-based industrial system. The third path may be viewed as the result of a combination between the two different base ‘entities’ described above. In fact, in regions such as Wales, Tampere, Göteborg and North Rhine – Westphalia, science-based clusters have developed from declining engineering-based sectors, passing through the formation of a RIS. In this respect, the transformation process can be defined as RIS through process. In this group of regions, the regional innovation system acted as catalyst for the local system transformation process, driving the regional competitive repositioning through the development of clusters of innovative and high tech firms. In this respect, the process of territorial transformation has taken place thanks to a ‘systemic effort’ and as a result of social interdependencies among territorial actors.

Common Frameworks for Regional Competitiveness - Insights from a Number of Local Knowledge Economies

1. Aims of the paper: in this paper we analysed a number of European regions that in the last ten to fifteen years experienced a process of industrial reconversion moving from traditional sectors-based economies to knowledge economies. With the aim of shaping the transformation paths driving their competitiveness recovery, the analysis was conducted on two levels. First, we tried to identify the most relevant factors of competitiveness behind each region's renewal process and combined them to shape a number of common trajectories of regional competitiveness. Secondly, we outlined a taxonomy of transformation paths followed by each of the territories under investigation in their development process towards a knowledge economy. Interestingly, all regional 'success histories' are strongly dependent on the presence of a tri-polar regional innovation system (RIS) 'gluing' firms, institutions and academia. 2. Factors and trajectories of regional competitiveness: Some of the factors of regional competitiveness identified in the analysis (exhaustively listed and described in the full paper) are entrepreneurial motivation, managerial skills, access to private and public financing, the presence of a local technical university. By combining the competitiveness factors specific to each regional 'success history', we were able to spot a number of trajectories of regional competitiveness : (i) the Nokia economies trajectory, (ii) the knowledge creation upon invitation trajectory and (iii) the Cambridge way trajectory. The first trajectory includes the Nordic regions of Tampere and Goteborg. The leading factors of development of these regions can be brought back to the successful development strategies of Ericsson and Nokia, in turn based on excellent managerial and organisational skills and a strong international orientation. The second trajectory of regional competitiveness refers to Ireland, Scotland and Wales, characterized by an 'industrialisation upon invitation' type of growth based on foreign direct investments. The policy of FDI attraction is largely supported by public incentives and owes its success to the leading role taken up by regional development agencies. The last trajectory of regional competitiveness relates to the high tech cluster of Cambridge (UK), emerged and developed essentially thanks to the active role of Cambridge University in nurturing the cluster with human capital of excellence and in allowing the faculty members to commercially exploit their skills and technical know how. The most interesting result of this part of the analysis is that the regions under scrutiny owe their virtuous process of competitiveness recovery to three sets of factors, each originating from one of the three territorial actors making up a regional innovation system – firms, institutions, university – so that behind each regional renewal history it is possible to recognize the presence and the 'functioning' of a RIS. 3. A taxonomy of regional transformation paths: Next, we classified the development dynamics of the regions investigated above along three paths of economic restructuring. The first path, here defined as the RIS into process, is typical of industrial clusters in engineering-based sectors such as plant engineering, specialised advanced machinery and shipbuilding. Here the relationship with the RIS is developed at a later stage of the cluster life, as the RIS originates in response to the presence of the cluster. This is the case of a number of regions under scrutiny (Baden-Württemberg and Brabant, for instance) where the regional innovation system was specifically designed to support and strengthen local existing industrial specializations. The second regional development path, typical of industrial clustering in science-based sectors such as genetics, IT and biotechnology, follows the opposite 'direction'. Here the RIS is the main source of the cluster creation and the cluster develops from the regional innovation system by exploiting all the local resources in terms of cooperation and interaction with universities and local institutions. This is the case of regions such as Shannon and Cambridge (UK), which have followed a transformation process here defined as RIS from process, where the pre-existence of the RIS represents a key factor for the organization of a science-based industrial system. The third path may be viewed as the result of a combination between the two different base 'entities' described above. In fact, in regions such as Wales, Tampere, Göteborg and North Rhine – Westphalia, science-based clusters have developed from declining engineering-based sectors, passing through the formation of a RIS. In this respect, the transformation process can be defined as RIS through process. In this group of regions, the regional innovation system acted as catalyst for the local system transformation process, driving the regional competitive repositioning through the development of clusters of innovative and high tech firms. In this respect, the process of territorial transformation has taken place thanks to a 'systemic effort' and as a result of social interdependencies among territorial actors

Struttura e localizzazione dei gruppi di imprese in Emilia Romagna

This paper aims at investigating the presence and the main features of business groups in Emilia Romagna. The research is based on a sample comprising about 48 thousand firms and about 540 thousand employees from Emilia Romagna, the latter representing more than 42 per cent of the total regional employment. First, we find that the presence of corporate grouping in Emilia Romagna is comparable to that documented at national level. Moreover, and surprisingly enough, we show that the extension of the group organizational form is significant also in industrial districts, suggesting that ownership linkages among firms do play a role and should not be neglected in the analysis of these production systems. Although the analysis requires some further investigation, these results support the view that also in Emilia-Romagna the actual size of firms is larger and the number of owners is lower than official statistics reveal. This result has important economic policy implications, as the industrial policy of Emilia-Romagna has traditionally been oriented to supporting small and very small firms

Struttura e localizzazione dei gruppi di imprese in Emilia Romagna

This paper aims at investigating the presence and the main features of business groups in Emilia Romagna. The research is based on a sample comprising about 48 thousand firms and about 540 thousand employees from Emilia Romagna, the latter representing more than 42 per cent of the total regional employment. First, we find that the presence of corporate grouping in Emilia Romagna is comparable to that documented at national level. Moreover, and surprisingly enough, we show that the extension of the group organizational form is significant also in industrial districts, suggesting that ownership linkages among firms do play a role and should not be neglected in the analysis of these production systems. Although the analysis requires some further investigation, these results support the view that also in Emilia Romagna the actual size of firms is larger and the number of owners is lower than official statistics reveal. This result has important economic policy implications, as the industrial policy of Emilia Romagna has traditionally been oriented to supporting small and very small firms

Ownership Linkages and Business Groups in Industrial Districts. The Case of Emilia Romagna

Il volume descrive la recente evoluzione dei distretti industriali e dei sistemi locali di produzione in Italia sotto il profilo dell'organizzazione economica, della governance, dell'innovazione e dell'internazionalizzazione

From the industrial district to the district group: An insight into the evolution of capitalism in italy1

Brioschi F., Brioschi M. S. and Cainelli G. (2002) From the industrial district to the district group: an insight into the evolution of local capitalism in Italy, Reg. Studies 36, 1037-1053. The aim of this paper is two-fold: to analyse the extent of corporate grouping in the main industrial districts of Emilia Romagna and the reasons for their formation and development; and to show how their evolution in recent years requires rethinking the very concept of industrial district in favour of a unit of analysis capable of grasping the role taken by ownership linkages among firms. In this respect, we suggest a taxonomy of business groups that brings out the key role played by 'district groups'. The choice of Emilia Romagna as our field of investigation is motivated by the fact that in a number of ways the region's industrial system represents a paradigmatic model of local capitalism, combining the large-scale presence of industrial districts with a marked entrepreneurial spirit, strong social cohesion and an exceptionally efficient system of local institutions and intermediate organizations. In this sense, even though we start from the empirical study of a case (albeit a significant one like that of Emilia Romagna), our paper has the more general purpose of depicting the forms and ways through which a special form of local capitalism characterized by the massive presence of industrial districts has evolved, while at the same time signalling the need to reconsider the theoretical concepts and methods of empirical inquiry used to analyse and interpret the new forms taken on by local capitalism in Italy.Industrial districts, Business groups, District group, Emilia Romagna, Local capitalism,

Common Trajectories of Regional Competitiveness in the Knowledge Economy: A European Investigation

This paper analyses a number of European regions that in the last decade, through a considerable change in their economic base, experienced a remarkable growth path and a significant increase in their competitiveness. The analysis was carried out with the aim of recognizing the main determinants (or factors) of territorial development behind each regional renewal process and capturing (in a necessarily stylized manner) a number of common trajectories of regional competitiveness. Interestingly, all regional ‘success stories’ are strongly dependent on the presence of a tri-polar regional innovation system ‘gluing’ firms, institutions and academia.regional innovation system, factors of territorial development, trajectories of regional competitiveness, regional development

Il sistema regionale di innovazione nelle traiettorie di competitivit� regionale

This paper analyses a number of European regions that in the last decade, through a considerable change in their economic base, experienced a remarkable growth path and a significant increase in their competitiveness. The analysis was carried out with the aim of recognizing the main determinants (or factors) of territorial development behind each regional renewal process and capturing (in a necessarily stylized manner) a number of common trajectories of regional competitiveness. Interestingly, all regional ‘success histories’ are strongly dependent on the presence of a tri-polar regional innovation system ‘gluing’ firms, institutions and academia.sistema regionale di innovazione, fattori di sviluppo territoriale, traiettorie di competitivit� regionale, sviluppo regionale