The Territorial Agglomerations of Firms: A Social Capital Perspective from the Spanish Tile Industry

Using the Social Capital theoretical framework, territorial agglomerations of firms, such as in the industrial district, can be identified as dense strong-tie networks and are thus suitable for exploiting activities. This paper addresses the possible exploring limitations of these clustered firms. Following alternative explanations, such as the structural holes and weak tie approaches, it is proposed that local institutions may play a role as intermediary agents between external disperse networks and internal dense networks, therefore enabling these firms to deal with the requirements of an ever-changing environment. The paper also develops an empirical section where the Spanish ceramic tile industrial district is described in order to illustrate theoretical arguments. Findings suggested a number of ways in which local institutions may facilitate the creation of value for firms. Particularly, local institutions interact with many external firms and institutions and undertake research projects with local firms. In addition, some quantification of the participation of firms in the activities carried out by institutions is offered, suggesting explanations for the barriers that prevent firms from gaining direct access to external networks. Copyright 2005 Blackwell Publishing Ltd..

Non-Economic Factors in Economic Geography and in 'New Regionalism': A Sympathetic Critique

In the current debate on local and regional development and after several 'turns', dominant critical models have found some security in institutional, cultural and evolutionary approaches. Interest today centres on success and competitiveness and how they are reproduced in a few paradigmatic regions. A distinctive feature of these regions and places is "the embeddedness of certain non-economic factors "such as" social capital, trust and reciprocity "based on familiarity, face-to-face exchange, cooperation, embedded routines, habits and norms, local conventions of communication and interaction, all of which contribute to a region's particular success. Although these approaches may not deny the forces of the capitalist space economy, they do not explicitly acknowledge them or take them on board and so they tend to discuss non-economic factors and institutions as autonomous forces shaping development. This essay provides a critique of these concepts based on their (1) inadequate theorization, (2) depoliticized view of politics and de-economized use of economics and (3) reduction of space to territory. The essay concludes that we need a far more penetrating renewal of radical critique of the current space economy of capitalism. Old concepts such as uneven development, the social and spatial division of labour, the geographical transfer of value, accumulation and imperialism must be combined with cultural and institutional issues, with those non-economic factors mentioned above. Copyright (c) 2006 The Author. Journal Compilation (c) 2006 Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishing Ltd..