The role of multilevel dynamics and agency in regional industry renewal

This dissertation investigates the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of evolutionary economic geography (EEG) and its approach to regional restructuring. A dynamic approach considering that regional industries are continuously renewing (albeit to differing degrees) is developed. Such considerations have largely been ignored in investigations of regional restructuring and much work on EEG, which have instead focused on how to re-establish former contingencies following external shocks, i.e. a reactive approach. The concept of regional industry renewal is discussed, emphasising that regional restructuring is a continuous process characterized by different ‘intensities’ in different regions and/or time periods. Moreover, it is emphasized throughout this dissertation that EEG has addressed the micro level of firms and organizations, the meso level of regional settings, and the macro level of national and international settings. However, particular focus has been put on the meso level, as is illustrated by the literatures on industry clusters, regional innovation systems (RIS) and the concept of related variety. However, ‘uni-level’ approaches focusing on the meso level have implied that EEG has predominantly developed imprecise categorizations of micro-level activity and that the role of the macro level mainly has been approached by looking at supraregional linkages as relatively homogenous. These approaches can largely be classified as static, and dynamic approaches that treat the three levels as integrated are lacking. Thus, the approach to regional industry renewal used herein emphasizes that its sources can be both endogenous and exogenous to a region, and also that agency can play a role in shaping how these processes develop spatio-temporally, i.e. that different actors can proactively contribute to the process. In addition, the few recent contributions investigating the micro, meso and macro levels in conjunction have largely focused on path creation and new industry development, and less so restructuring of existing industry activity. Thus, a multilevel approach to regional industry renewal is developed. Furthermore, this is connected to the debates over the role of structure and agency in EEG. It is argued that EEG has generally ascribed power to structure over agency, but that recent conceptual and empirical works have granted agency (ascribed to the micro level) a more prominent role in the evolution of economic systems. It is proposed that different actors, e.g., firms, industry clusters, and national policymakers, have different scopes and roles in the regional industry renewal processes, but that, importantly, agency resides not only at the micro level but also at the meso and macro levels. The connotation of this argument is for instance that the agency of cluster facilitation can play an important role in regional industry renewal. This is referred to as ‘system agency’, because deliberate actors can play a role in changing structural frameworks, e.g., through changing national regulations or regional innovation policy, and that they, in turn, can influence the practices of other (regional) actors. These issues are explored based on seven papers, each of which used qualitative methodology. The papers contribute with theoretical and empirical insights on the role of agency and multilevel dynamics in regional industry renewal. The empirical work described in these papers focused on the Bergen region in western Norway. Based on this work, the Bergen region is argued to be characterized by beneficial multilevel dynamics as a result of strong firms and research and development organizations, and an industry structure characterized by related and diversified activities. Furthermore, policy has arguably played an important role in contributing to regional industry renewal in the Bergen region, inter alia through RIS development. In addition, the region is also characterized by a largely positive interweaving in global knowledge flow and trade, and several leading firms operate in the region. Thus, the Bergen region serves well as a case study illustrating the theoretical and conceptual approaches developed in this dissertation

Emergence of new industries in peripheral regions: the role of narratives in delegitimation of onshore wind in the Arctic Finnmark region

This paper discusses how narratives influence the legitimation of new industries in peripheral regions. We contribute to the literature a discussion of the emergence of green industries in peripheral regions, but particularly to the emerging debate in evolutionary economic geography on the role of legitimation in the emergence of new industries. Based on an empirical investigation of narratives regarding onshore wind in the Finnmark region in northernmost Norway, we caution against the focus in the literature on ‘successful’ legitimation, arguing that to better comprehend how new green industries emerge inregions there is a need also to understand delegitimation of new industrial activities and to investigate unsuccessful path creation processes, not only paths that have come into being and where legitimation has been ‘achieved’. Following from this we argue that our study on how representations (i.e.,narratives) of emerging paths are linked to observable outcomes (e.g., delegitimation) teases out the need for further investigation of power relations, a topic that has received very little interest in research on regional industrial path development.publishedVersio

NCE Maritime og NCE Subsea : korleis påverkar internasjonalisering klyngene?

Korleis påverkar internasjonalisering næringsklynger? Rapporten bidreg med ei forståing av klynger og internasjonalisering, der to Norwegian Centres of Expertise vert analysert. NCE Subsea (Hordaland) fokuserer på drift og vedlikehald av undervassinstallasjonar, ein relativt ny industri som opplever sterk vekst. NCE Maritime (Møre) har ein verdsleiande posisjon innan design, bygging og drift av avanserte offshorefartøy, og klynga har lange og sterke tradisjonar. Eit analytisk rammeverk vert utarbeidd for å forstå korleis internasjonalisering påverkar klyngene. Det vert lagt vekt på korleis klyngene fungerer (dynamikk), næringa/industrien dei tilhøyrer, bedriftene si forankring, samt andre faktorar. Også framveksten av dei to klyngene vert behandla, og det vert framheva at klyngene deler mange likheitstrekk, men dei er også svært forskjellige. Vil internasjonalisering då påverke dei ulikt? I tillegg til å svare på dette viser rapporten kvifor forankring i dynamiske klynger er viktig for bedriftene – og kvifor forankring kan verte viktigare i samband med internasjonalisering

Green restructuring, innovation, and transitions in Norwegian industry: The role of economic geography

publishedVersio

The role of multilevel dynamics and agency in regional industry renewal

This dissertation investigates the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of evolutionary economic geography (EEG) and its approach to regional restructuring. A dynamic approach considering that regional industries are continuously renewing (albeit to differing degrees) is developed. Such considerations have largely been ignored in investigations of regional restructuring and much work on EEG, which have instead focused on how to re-establish former contingencies following external shocks, i.e. a reactive approach. The concept of regional industry renewal is discussed, emphasising that regional restructuring is a continuous process characterized by different ‘intensities’ in different regions and/or time periods. Moreover, it is emphasized throughout this dissertation that EEG has addressed the micro level of firms and organizations, the meso level of regional settings, and the macro level of national and international settings. However, particular focus has been put on the meso level, as is illustrated by the literatures on industry clusters, regional innovation systems (RIS) and the concept of related variety. However, ‘uni-level’ approaches focusing on the meso level have implied that EEG has predominantly developed imprecise categorizations of micro-level activity and that the role of the macro level mainly has been approached by looking at supraregional linkages as relatively homogenous. These approaches can largely be classified as static, and dynamic approaches that treat the three levels as integrated are lacking. Thus, the approach to regional industry renewal used herein emphasizes that its sources can be both endogenous and exogenous to a region, and also that agency can play a role in shaping how these processes develop spatio-temporally, i.e. that different actors can proactively contribute to the process. In addition, the few recent contributions investigating the micro, meso and macro levels in conjunction have largely focused on path creation and new industry development, and less so restructuring of existing industry activity. Thus, a multilevel approach to regional industry renewal is developed. Furthermore, this is connected to the debates over the role of structure and agency in EEG. It is argued that EEG has generally ascribed power to structure over agency, but that recent conceptual and empirical works have granted agency (ascribed to the micro level) a more prominent role in the evolution of economic systems. It is proposed that different actors, e.g., firms, industry clusters, and national policymakers, have different scopes and roles in the regional industry renewal processes, but that, importantly, agency resides not only at the micro level but also at the meso and macro levels. The connotation of this argument is for instance that the agency of cluster facilitation can play an important role in regional industry renewal. This is referred to as ‘system agency’, because deliberate actors can play a role in changing structural frameworks, e.g., through changing national regulations or regional innovation policy, and that they, in turn, can influence the practices of other (regional) actors. These issues are explored based on seven papers, each of which used qualitative methodology. The papers contribute with theoretical and empirical insights on the role of agency and multilevel dynamics in regional industry renewal. The empirical work described in these papers focused on the Bergen region in western Norway. Based on this work, the Bergen region is argued to be characterized by beneficial multilevel dynamics as a result of strong firms and research and development organizations, and an industry structure characterized by related and diversified activities. Furthermore, policy has arguably played an important role in contributing to regional industry renewal in the Bergen region, inter alia through RIS development. In addition, the region is also characterized by a largely positive interweaving in global knowledge flow and trade, and several leading firms operate in the region. Thus, the Bergen region serves well as a case study illustrating the theoretical and conceptual approaches developed in this dissertation

Linking the bottom-up and top-down evolution of regional innovation systems to policy: organizations, support structures and learning processes

The literature is ambiguous about whether regional innovation systems (RIS) evolve bottom-up or top-down. This is reflected in RIS policies, which tend to focus on either development of the actor level, i.e. organizations in a RIS, or the system level, i.e. the support structure for innovation. Here, we analyzed a Norwegian RIS policy programme, the Programme for Regional R&D and Innovation (VRI), which aimed to combine both approaches. We found that VRI mainly developed the support structure for innovation and that learning outcomes from VRI involvement in organizations differed between the involved actor groups. This is particularly so for RIS development in regions inexperienced with support structure development prior to VRI involvement. Conversely, in regions with well-functioning support structures prior to VRI, the focus was most beneficially on stimulating learning at the actor level. We argue that future research should investigate mechanisms and interlinkages between the two levels and especially their regional particularities

Green restructuring, innovation, and transitions in Norwegian industry: The role of economic geography

Mes recherches portent sur l'expression de la douleur et de l'attachement dans les situations de maternités douloureuses : deuil périnatal, deuil d'enfant, handicap, infertilité, déni de grossesse. Ces maternités mettent en jeu une souffrance éthique, morale, psychologique, émotionnelle, physique. Mon corpus est issu d'ouvrages de témoignage, de conversations sur les forums de l'internet, de lettres d'associations impliqués dans le deuil d'enfant ou le handicap, des ouvrages de littérature en..

Greening of regional industrial paths and the role of sectoral characteristics: A study of the maritime and petroleum sectors in an Arctic region

Recent studies on regional industrial path development call for new perspectives and studies of how a region’s endogenous and exogenous processes (e.g. networks, capital, knowledge) influence its industries, and more recently, the greening of those industries. To this end, recent research has focused on increasing our understanding of the roles of firm and non-firm agency and multi-scalar dynamics (e.g. value chains, national and global regulations). However, the literature has naturally tended to focus more on territorial dynamics (e.g. agglomerations, clusters, regional innovation systems) than on the role of sectoral characteristics to explain regional industrial path development and regional industry greening. To address this, we have developed a framework built on the sectoral innovation systems literature to provide a better explanation of the role of sectoral characteristics in regional industrial path development. We argue herein that the greening of regional industrial paths can be strongly influenced by sectoral characteristics (e.g. standards, markets, technological solutions, laws, regulations), and not merely by territorial characteristics. Our theory-based argument is practically exemplified by an investigation of how a new green technology, onshore power supply, has influenced the greening of two industries (i.e. maritime and petroleum) in the rural Arctic region of northern Norway

Green restructuring, innovation, and transitions in Norwegian industry: The role of economic geography

publishedVersio

Innovasjon: Ei kort innføring i sentrale teoriar og omgrep

‘Innovasjon’ gir utan tvil ei rekke assosiasjonar for dei aller fleste, noko som også kan vere ei utfordring. Kva er eigentleg innovasjon? Korleis ‘skjer’ innovasjon? Og korleis bør innovasjonar skje? Kan ein legge til rette for innovasjon? Dette notatet er meint som ei enkel innføring i nokre av dei sentrale teoriane og omgrepa knytt til å forstå innovasjon. Målet er å bidra med ei kortfatta og overordna oversikt over feltet. For personar som ikkje er kjend med innovasjonsstudiar kan notatet vere ein fin inngang til vidare studiar. For meir vidarekomne er notatet i første rekke nyttig for å få oversikt over samanhengen mellom ulike omgrepa, samt avklaring av desse omgrepa. Forhåpentlegvis fungerer notatet som ein døropnar inn i fagområdet innovasjon