Colin Crouch, Patrick Le Galès, Carlo Trigilia, and Helmut Voelzkow (eds.) Changing Governance of Local Economies: Responses of European Local Production Systems     Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004 360 pp. | ISBN 978-0-19-925940-3 | £ 67.50 Order directly from Oxford University Press.

 

 

Abstract | Contents | Editors

 

 

Abstract

 
Do specialized local clusters of small and medium-sized firms have a future in the global economy? The authors address this question with case studies of cities in France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. They look at the machinery industries, former steel-producing cities trying to develop clusters in new activities, and high-tech sectors. They find evidence of considerable vitality, often contradicting national stereotypes of how economies are organized.
 
Readership: Academics working in business and management studies, local economic development, local politics, social, economic, and regional geography, and economic sociology; practitioners and policy-makers in local development.
 

 

Contents

 

1	Introduction Colin Crouch and Helmut Voelzkow
Part I Established Local Production Systems: The Machinery Industries
2	Introduction: The European Machinery Industry Under Pressure Colin Crouch
3	Collective Goods in the Local Economy: The Packaging Machinery Cluster in Bologna Henry Farrell and Ann-Louise Lauridsen
4	Refining National Policy: The Machine Tool Industry in the Local Economy of Stuttgart Ulrich Glassmann
5	Machine Tooling in the United Kingdom Colin Crouch and Joe O'Mahoney
6	Machine Tools in France: A Century of Failure to Build a Competitive Industry Patrick Le Galès and Nicolas Gaubert
7	Conclusions: Hybrid Governance and Networked Firms Colin Crouch
Part II Trying to Establish Local Production Systems: The Ex-Steel Cities
8	Introduction: The Reconstruction of Declining Local Economies in Europe Helmut Voelzkow
9	Duisburg: A New Local Production System Substitutes an Old Steel Plant Ulrich Glassmann and Helmut Voelzkow
10	Life after Industrial Decline in St. Etienne: Robust SMEs, Deterritorialization, and the Making of a Local Mode of Governance Patrick Le Galès and Oliver Tirmarche
11	Regeneration in Sheffield: From Council Dominance to Partnership Colin Crouch and Martin Scott Hill
12	Industrial Decline and Local Development Policies in the Steel Area of Piombino Annalisa Tonarelli
13	Conclusion: After Steel: Some Minor Emergence of Local Production Systems Based on SMEs Patrick Le Galès
Part III New Local Production Systems: High-Tech Sectors
14	Introduction: High-Tech Districts Carlo Trigilia
15	The Biopharmaceutical Cluster in Oxford Neil Proudfoot
16	Recombining Governance Modes: The Media Sector in Cologne Arne Baumann and Helmut Voelzkow
17	Between Cities and Districts: Local Software Systems in Italy Andrea Biagiotti and Luigi Burroni
18	Grenoble Valley Valeria Aniello
19	Conclusions: The Distinctive Needs of High-Tech Districts Carlo Trigilia
20	Conclusions Patrick Le Galès and Carlo Trigilia

 

 

Editors

 
Colin Crouch, Chairman of the Department of Political and Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology, European University Institute, Florence.
Patrick Le Galès, Senior Researcher at CEVIFOP-CNRS, Paris.
Carlo Trigilia, Professor of Economic Sociology at the University of Florence.
Carlo Trigilia, Professor of Economic Sociology, University of Florence.
Helmut Voelzkow, Professor of Social Sciences at the University of Osnabrück.