Location differences of services and industry: A Central European dichotomy (original) (raw)
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Central Europe’s industrial spaces: Path-dependent upgrading or radical restructuring?
2010
Path-dependence in the restructuring of economic spaces, especially Old Industrial regions affected by structural and network–agglomeration-related decline, is most often associated with the accumulation of negative phenomena. Programmes to break regions and their networks out of these trajectories are often focused on achieving radical change – including an idealised transformation into spaces of post-industrial urban regeneration, architectural conversion and “the creative class”. In the public practice of regeneration, industrial legacies are commonly evaluated as redundant or even barriers before new growth. However, the ideal type of restructuring masks an arguably much more ambiguous reality. Not only are “desindustrialist” scenarios over-optimistic about the powers of advanced services to provide “post-industrial” economic alternatives in place of old structures, the knowledge, institutions and human potential of former industry – heavily path-dependent factors – often have a more realistic potential to generate economic growth. Moreover, while the spaces of advanced industrial services are strongly concentrated in metropolitan areas, especially world cities, this is not necessarily the case for new manufacturing, which follows more evenly distributed location patterns. Using sub-national data from across Central Europe, the paper critically examines the dichotomy between the service-based economic growth of central regions (almost exclusively national capitals and their surrounding regions) and the rest, where the location or absence of industrial production, especially FDI-based manufacturing industry, is a more powerful influence on economic differentiation. It is argued that outside central regions, tertiarisation in employment does not automatically coincide with the emergence of a powerful “post-industrial economy”; in fact, spaces which could build on previous manufacturing traditions and rejuvenate the social and institutional networks that underlie them, have been the more successful. In the longer term, a slower and less radical development path mainly based on incremental industrial upgrading and network-building appears to have a greater potential in restructuring than radical change.
Discussion Papers No. 62, 2008
In Central European states, the questions of industrialisation have been asked numerous times in relation to the European core. Before WW II, industrial underdevelopment could be linked to the peripheral situation of Central European economies, and meaningful parallels could be drawn with the states of Southern Europe, who had faced the same problems. With state socialism and its focus on catch-up through industrial development, the issue became muddled. To what extent was the path taken by Central European states to industrialise comparable to other economies on the European periphery, and to what extent was it a specific outcome of socialist ideology? Furthermore, is it possible to speak about national models, or are these variations less significant? The role of industry had to be re-evaluated during transformation. Decline in employment, economic share and exports was universal, but it is also visible that some industrial activities have been able to survive and become a new source of growth. In Central Europe’s integration into European and global networks, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has reshaped space; however, it is apparent that the dichotomy between old and new industries is a questionable one: even new greenfield investments are closely linked to previous production millieus, while old industries have often shown ability to be revitalised. Therefore, the spatial structure of industry of Central Europe today is a patchwork of continuity and change, where convergence towards the core is just as possible as the recreation of traditional peripheral relationships. This paper aim to trace the development of Central European industry from three aspects: public policy (what was the role of the state in influencing industrial growth?), economic development (what role did industry play in national economies, and how did national models compare to each other and western models?) and spatial development (how did industrialisation and de-industrialisation processes play out in heterogenous space?). Three major time periods are considered: the inter-war years, state socialism and the present; and the question examined whether they represent breaks in development or continuities and organic transitions.
Industrial restructuring in Central and South-Eastern Europe: Difference of degree or kind?
in: Pálné Kovács, Ilona – Scott, James – Gál, Zoltán (Eds.): Territorial Cohesion in Europe: For the 70th Anniversary of the Transdanubian Research Institute. Institute for Regional Studies, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Pécs, 377–390., 2013
The territory of post-socialist Europe is a space fragmented by old (historical) and recent (post-socialist) divisions. The frameworks of integration and directions of orientation have changed multiple times within one century, but there are also long-running differences which continue to affect development processes. Like all macro-regions of Europe, overall development trends are characterised by strong path-dependency, and are formed by socio-economic as well as political conditions. In this paper, I examine the industrial development of South-Eastern Europe from a comparative perspective, in contrast with the development processes seen in the Visegrad states. De-industrialisation and disintegration, as well as reindustrialisation and reintegration processes will be studied. My main question concerns the nature of development: if we consider both Central and South-Eastern Europe a part of the European periphery, are the two showing the same processes in industrial development, or are the models fundamentally different? Can we speak of a simple development lag (difference of degree), or do the differences amount to something qualitatively different (difference of kind)? The answers to these questions have far-reaching implications for both the region itself and to broader Europe.
The re-emerging role of industry in Central European economies
2009
Over nineteen years, a significant restructuring has taken place across Central Europe’s industrial landscape. The crisis and decline of state-owned industry had initiated a wide de-industrialisation process, transforming post-socialist states into service-dominated economies. Nonetheless, industry has not lost its role in shaping spatial formations, and maintains a leading role in influencing competitiveness. “Post-industrial development” – a process which does not denote an industry-free growth trajectory even in advanced economies – is not yet an option for the majority of Central European regions: there is a need both for the further development of established industry, and the reindustrialisation of under-industrialised or de-industrialised peripheries. In this paper, I briefly discuss the de-industrialisation process that has taken place in Central Europe, with an eye towards its spatial legacy: the various roles industry plays today in different types of regions. Naturally, industrial development is characterised by substantial inertia, where the staying power of previously existing structures, productive and institutional legacies continue to have a long-term effect on current possibilities and future growth opportunities. These questions are explored in the second part, while in the third, I discuss the case of Upper Silesia, Poland, as a successful example of industrial restructuring.
2021
De-industrialisation in Western countries in the second half of the 20th century has been a manifestation of the post-industrial era when jobs have increasingly moved from the primary and secondary sectors to services and knowledge-intensive sectors. The significant spatial relocations can be explained as the result of manufacturing path dependence and the internationalisation strategies of the largest industrial manufacturers. Therefore, the main goal of the article is to identify the sectoral changes in the secondary and knowledge-intensive sectors over the past 20 years and the spatial concentrations of industrial production in the European Union area. The new Index of Sectoral Specialisation is proposed to verify the hypothesis that evolution brings about structural changes, the decline of older sectors and the promotion of new ones. The relationship between the economic advancement of a country and the economic structure set in higher sectors has been demonstrated. However, sev...
2019
The paper focuses on the interrelatedness of the location strategies of the advanced producer services and the urban hierarchies in the Central European countries based on the 36 metropole cities of the region (9 countries), and focuses on how far the Central European metropolises are integrated into the international networks of the advanced producer service firms (APS firms). Along with the globalization process a transnational urban network is developing in the last few decades, the international flows of networks, information, labour and capital are getting more intense, and the global service sector tends to locate offices where a critical mass of highly skilled labour force and economic performance is present with high level physical and digital accessibility. This strategy favours the capital cities and metropole cities which are in the focus of my study. Which metropole cities can be more attractive for APSs and what are the underlying factors is the main question of my pape...
Choosing Right from Wrong: Industrial Policy and (De)industrialization in Central and Eastern Europe
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Over the past two and a half decades, the economic landscape of Central and Eastern European economies went through several waves of transformation. The demise of traditional industries and the rise of the service sector during the 1990s inclined economic structure towards deindustrialization. The events over the next years paved the way for the rise of new industries in many of these countries and embarked them on the route of reindustrialization. However, in some countries the rise of new industries was more modest and took place at a much slower pace. Such development can be attributed to the process of industrial restructuring as well as industrial policies. The recent rise of awareness about the importance of industrial development for the growth and well-being of nations makes it relevant to investigate the sources behind changes in the economic structure of Central and Eastern European countries. Our findings reveal two groups of CEECs, defined as reindustrializing and those ...
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