Birgit Leick

Barriers to co-operation and competitive advantage: cross- border business networks of Saxon and Northern Bohemian firms*

Small-scale business co-operation across borders is considered as major driving force of economic integration between Western and Central Eastern Europe. In this context, it is argued that business co-operation and networks support the creation of competitive advantage. This paper sheds new light on this issue by adding a case study of firms in selected East German and Czech border regions. The study focuses on two inter-related research questions: Can firms create competitive advantage in small-scale business co-operation and networks within border regions? And what role is there for the barriers to co-operation that firms encounter? These questions are investigated using a dataset of nearly 60 structured interviews with firms from the cross-border regions.

Business Networks in the Cross-border Regions of the Enlarged EU: What do we know in the Post-enlargement Era?

In the context of the Eastern European enlargement, locally based networks of enterprises were expected to act as an important driver of economic integration of the cross-border regions. In a globalized world, this type of network is supposed to play a vital role in strengthening the competitiveness of the peripheral regions along the former political–economic frontier between Western and Eastern Europe. In practice, however, only weak network-building across borders was observed in many of the border areas, instead, that involves local enterprises. The contrasting picture of the theoretical propositions and the empirical evidence is the starting point for the present paper. Its aim is to present the key insights into the issue of business networks in the cross-border regions in a post-enlargement era. It proceeds along the following lines: after having confronted the theoretical propositions on the topic with empirical evidence, a case study of a historically integrated cross-border network underpins this literature overview with primary data and highlights the perspectives and limitations of the business networking potential for a case region. The article finishes by sketching a research agenda that aims at reconciling the different views on the development of cross-border business networks and calls for new empirical research.

Wirtschaftsentwicklung in demographischen Schrumpfungsregionen – Unternehmerische Herausforderungen und Strategien am Beispiel von Oberfranken

ZusammenfassungDer demographische Wandel hinterlässt in vielen europäischen Ländern Spuren in Form von rückläufigen Bevölkerungszahlen und zunehmender Alterung der Bevölkerung. Die Intensität der demographischen Schrumpfung und Alterung variiert räumlich jedoch erheblich. Infolgedessen stehen die Länder und Regionen vor unterschiedlichen Problemen und Herausforderungen bei der Bewältigung der Folgen. Der demographische Wandel hat Auswirkungen auf nahezu alle Lebensbereiche. Der Beitrag befasst sich mit den damit verbundenen Veränderungen für die Wirtschaftsentwicklung in Schrumpfungsregionen aus der Mikro-Perspektive. Dabei wird zunächst ein Überblick über Ausmaß und Intensität der regionalen Schrumpfungsprozesse sowie deren mögliche Auswirkungen auf die regionale Wirtschaftsentwicklung und die Unternehmen als wichtige Wirtschaftsakteure in den Schrumpfungsregionen gegeben. Im Blickpunkt stehen dabei veränderte regionale Absatzmärkte aufgrund des demographischen Wandels. Im Anschluss daran werden die konkreten Herausforderungen für Unternehmen und mögliche marktbezogene Anpassungsstrategien anhand einer explorativen Fallstudie in Oberfranken untersucht.AbstractDemographic change in terms of decreasing and ageing populations poses a new challenge to regional development and economic prospects in Europe. However, it has been noted that the intensity of demographic shrinking differs widely among the European regions, causing adaptive problems and challenges to varying degrees. Demographic change affects almost every area of economic activity. This article depicts and analyses the associated changes and challenges for regional development in shrinking areas at a micro level. It gives an overview of the extent and intensity of demographic shrinkage for regions as well as its effects on regional development and firms as economic agents in demographically shrinking regions. The overview is based on concepts and theories in economics and economic geography dealing with demographic and economic developments. The main part presents a case study that focuses on changing regional market conditions due to demographic change. Using Upper Franconia as a German case region, we analyse the pressure on local firms and their adaptive strategy-building on regional markets in an exploratory way.

Brokerage-based value creation: the case of a Danish offshore business network

Purpose Social capital plays an important role in transforming knowledge within and across inter-firm business networks in industries. The purpose of this paper is to explore different kinds of transfer mechanism such as “bonding,” “bridging,” and “protecting” within a case network of the Danish offshore windmill industry. Its aim is to describe how these mechanisms interactively support value co-creation among the involved enterprises and how social capital, residing in the relationships between actors from the firms, is influenced by the different transfer mechanisms. Design/methodology/approach Based upon a single case study, the paper demonstrates “bonding,” “bridging,” and “protecting” as distinct, yet related, mechanisms for inter-firm business networking. The sample used covers selected key actors from the network as well as third-party experts from the Danish windmill industry, which together represent the most important knowledge-offering and knowledge-demanding domains. Findings Activities associated with “bridging” and “bonding” clearly matter for creating value for the business network and the industry alike, as they are supportive of strategic capability development (for instance, high-skilled work). While producers and supply companies apply such “bridging,” “bonding,” and additional “protecting” mechanisms based upon their predominant position, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), however, need to shape teams to do so. A major finding of the study is, thus, that team-based interrelationships among SMEs activate “bridging,” “bonding.” and “protecting” initiatives which are particularly supportive of capability improvement and industry growth. They enable the transfer of relevant capabilities between different projects where actors within SMEs organizations learn to activate and use such knowledge transfer mechanisms. Moreover, asymmetrical dependency-relationships can be partly overcome by shaping and using the mechanisms on the part of SMEs in the network. Originality/value To date, brokerage is still an under-explored topic with regard to inter-firm business networks. This case study contributes to the research by illustrating important and distinct qualitative aspects of brokerage, which are conceptualized as “bonding,” “bridging,” and “protecting” initiatives on the part of brokers. The study highlights that not only strong actors with central positions can step into the role as a broker. Even less resourceful actors within asymmetrical relations can act as broker and compensate a lack of resources or strengthen their position within the industry network. Consequently, value co-creating processes within industry networks can also be boosted by brokerage initiated by small companies.

Netzwerk-Broker als interdisziplinäres Forschungsthema

Qualitative Syntheseverfahren eignen sich besonders fur interdisziplinare Forschungsthemen, wie sie in der sozialraumlichen Forschung eine lange Tradition haben. Der Beitrag beleuchtet die Metasynthese als Forschungsansatz zur Zusammenfassung, Strukturierung und Reflexion qualitativer Daten, die aus bereits durchgefuhrten qualitativen Fallstudien stammen. Es werden die Vorteile, aber auch die grundsatzlichen und praktischen Herausforderungen des Verfahrens anhand eines Beispiels aus der Wirtschaftsgeographie dargestellt.

Re-thinking non-core regions: planning strategies and practices beyond growth

ABSTRACT Periods of ongoing growth in the economy and demographics have come to a halt for many European regions for various reasons, challenging their economic development prospects. Despite the heterogeneous nature of stagnation, decline, peripheralization or even stigmatization to be found there, these configurations ‘beyond growth’ have in common that short-term ‘fire-fighting’ policy approaches aiming to foster regional economic growth face some important limitations. We argue that this has to do, among other things, with the overall direction of established and orthodox planning approaches that are predominantly based on growth-oriented paradigms and implicitly or explicitly work with dichotomous categories such as core–periphery and metropolitan versus non-metropolitan spaces; these do, however, not capture local realities in these cases. Using the notion of non-core regions, we plead for conceptualizing non-core regions and their regional economic development trajectories in different ways: thinking ‘beyond growth’. Such alternative ideas should be informed by alternative understandings of growth, development and sustainability in order to influence theories and concepts, but also to support new approaches to planning practice. To this aim, we discuss non-core regions from a social constructivist perspective, elaborating some points of departure for conceptualizing and practising regional planning ‘beyond growth’.

Institutional entrepreneurs and small firms: How firm practices are being shaped in the context of demographic transformations

Using the concept of institutional entrepreneurship, the present paper examines how change agents interact with firms to shape their existing practices to cope with demographic change in their local economies. Demographic challenges are considered to lead to fundamental market transformations, generating considerable uncertainty, notably for small and locally embedded firms. Based upon a case study from local economies in Germany that face demographic challenges, the paper demonstrates how such institutional entrepreneurs work to influence firms, steering the renewal of their existing practices towards adaptation to market change. The study first highlights the inspiration, vision, and power of such agents to promote and introduce new patterns of behavior and then elaborates how institutional entrepreneurship unfolds in a context where uncertainty and lack of consciousness for long-term market changes are prevalent among particularly small firms that are locally embedded in economies facing such change.

KMU als Global Players

und Osteuropas (MOE) in den 2000er Jahren ein wichtiger Anlass, Auslandsaktivitäten zu initiieren oder zu verstärken. Vor allem multinationale Unternehmen (MNU) bauten zunächst ihre Geschäftstätigkeiten in diesen Regionen aus. Für MNU ist eine Standortentscheidung zugunsten von Handelsund Produktionsaktivitäten in MOE allerdings eine strategische Entscheidung unter vielen, da sie typischerweise mit ausreichenden Ressourcen für die Internationalisierung ausgestattet sind und über intensive Auslandserfahrungen verfügen. Hingegen ist für kleinund mittelständische Unternehmen (KMU) die Expansion in Auslandsmärkte aufgrund ihrer strukturellen Eigenschaften mit einem erheblichen unternehmerischen Risiko verbunden (vgl. Haas und Neumair 2006, S. 669). Allerdings werden KMU aufgrund aktueller Entwicklungen wie langsameres Wachstum, Sättigungstendenzen und zunehmender Konkurrenzdruck auf angestammten inund ausländischen Märkten in verstärktem Maße mit der Notwendigkeit einer internationalen Ausrichtung ihrer Geschäftstätigkeit konfrontiert (vgl. Geyer und Uriep 2012; Köhler 1999, S. 4). Ein direkter Internationalisierungsdruck ergibt sich für KMU aus der Globalisierung ihrer Absatzund Beschaffungsmärkte und den sich damit ändernden Wettbewerbsbedingungen. Sie können aber auch indirekt über ihre bestehenden Kundenund Zulieferernetzwerke, die Veränderungen in den globalen Wettbewerbsbedingungen unterliegen, betroffen sein (vgl. Weber 1999, S. 70 f.). Neben dem Push-Faktor Internationalisierungsdruck bietet die Internationalisierung für KMU einen Anreiz, langfristig Gewinnchancen zu realisieren, die Wertschöpfungspotenziale neuer Märkte zu erschließen und gleichzeitig etablierte einheimische und regionale Märkte zu sichern. Die Internationalisierung von KMU wirft aus wirtschaftsgeographischer Sicht die Frage auf, welche räumlichen Effekte die Auslandsaktivitäten im Heimatbzw. im Globalisierungsprozesse und die zunehmende internationale Arbeitsteilung zwischen Unternehmen, Regionen und Standorten lassen sich anhand der Auslandsaktivitäten und Standortentscheidungen von multinationalen Unternehmen (MNU) beobachten. Gleichzeitig sind auch regionale kleinund mittelständische Unternehmen (KMU) mit weniger als 500 Mitarbeitern (vgl. www.ifm-bonn.de) auf internationalen Märkten aktiv. Zwar birgt für sie ein Auslandsengagement erhebliche Risiken, aber es ergeben sich dadurch auch betriebswirtschaftliche Chancen sowie wirtschaftliche Vorteile für die (Heimat-)Region der KMU. Der folgende Beitrag diskutiert auf der Basis einer Fallstudienanalyse, wie KMU Internationalisierungschancen in der Zielregion Mittelosteuropa nutzen, um den heimischen Standort zu sichern. Außerdem wird erörtert, welche Unterstützung die regionale Wirtschaftsförderung dabei leisten kann.