Johan Jansson

Cyclical Clusters in Global Circuits: Overlapping Spaces in Furniture Trade Fairs

abstract This article contributes to an understanding of temporary or event-based economic phenomena in economic and industrial geography by drawing on research conducted on the furniture and interior design industry. It argues that trade fairs should be seen not simply as temporary industry gatherings, but as central, though temporary, spaces for knowledge and market processes that symbolize microcosms of the industry they represent and function as effective marketplaces. It suggests that these temporary events should be viewed not as isolated from one another, but as arranged together in an almost continual global circuit. In this sense, trade fairs are less temporary clusters than they are cyclical clusters; they are complexes of overlapping spaces that are scheduled and arranged in such a way that spaces can be reproduced, reenacted, and renewed over time. Although actual fairs are short-lived events, their presence in the business cycle has lasting consequences for the organization of markets and industries and for the firms of which they are comprised.

Quality and Regional Competitiveness

Recent literature on competitiveness has focused on innovation and industrial dynamics. In this paper it is argued that innovation is not enough when competing on global markets, at least in certain types of industries where performance, standards, and perceptions of the product are at the forefront. In addition to existing theory, we focus on the role of ‘quality’ in creating and sustaining regional competitive advantage. A theoretical framework for identifying and analyzing processes creating and recreating understandings, perceptions, and experiences of quality, that is, a quality promise, is presented. In the framework, the quality process is divided into three dimensions, labelled performance, projection, and protection. Regional competitiveness is arguably achieved when: (a) a good or a service is well represented in one or more of the quality dimensions; (b) quality perception and knowledge permeate all actors and their activities and are inherent throughout the value chain; and (c) space is an integral part of these processes in that it facilitates (i) localized learning/localization economies, and (ii) place-based branding. It is argued that ‘quality’ should be viewed as deeply embedded in space and that quality processes have both homogeneous and heterogeneous characteristics.

Emerging (internet) industry and agglomeration: Internet entrepreneurs coping with uncertainty

Emerging industries are not rare elements in the economy; rather, they constitute a permanent feature in constantly developing and changing economic environments. However, the emergence of new industries is rarely painless or particularly straightforward processes; actors involved in these processes are confronted with uncertainties of which some are exclusive to emerging industries. A distinctive example of these processes was the emergence of the internet industry in Sweden and the agglomeration of internet firms in central Stockholm. Through three levels of uncertainty: (1) the newness of the technology introduced to the public and the emerging markets; (2) the process of developing new markets and approaching new customers and (3) the renegotiating of pre-existing structures and flexible ways of organizing work and labour, this article argues that agglomerations or local urban milieus play a crucial role to actors (internet entrepreneurs) coping with uncertainty. Agglomerations or urban milieus compose a necessary infrastructure for (1) negotiating industrial legitimacy, and thus establishing structures and procedures in the emerging industry; (2) discovering market opportunities and (3) informal relations necessary in making flexible labour markets efficient.

Constructing Brands from the Outside? Brand Channels, Cyclical Clusters and Global Circuits

Constructing brands from the outside? : Brand channels, cyclical clusters and global circuits

Inside the Internet Industry: The Importance of Proximity in Accessing Knowledge in the Agglomeration of Internet Firms in Stockholm

Abstract This paper deals with the question of agglomeration of economic of activities and the internet industry in Stockholm, Sweden. The paper discusses the importance of proximity, especially in the knowledge transmission, and uses a theoretical framework of localized and tacit knowledge. The empirical findings suggests that firms within the internet industry are located in close proximity to each other because of the importance of dense informal interpersonal networks, that facilitate the search for new customers and collaborators. The findings also stress the importance of proximity in creating these dense networks and being in the right place at the right time.

Sound Affects: Competing with Quality in the Swedish hi-fi Industry

Traditionally, literature on competitiveness has focused on innovation in networks and/or embedded in local/regional milieus. This paper examines the concept of quality and quality processes as an additional way of understanding the competitiveness of small and highly niched industries. In the theoretical framework, applied on the Swedish hi-fi industry, quality is identified as a promise and divided into three dimensions labelled “performance”, “projection” and “protection”. The quality framework provides a useful tool for analysing measurable and non-measurable aspects of quality sound and sound reproduction. Also, it is argued that competitiveness is stimulated when a product is associated with one of the quality dimensions and when a strong quality perception is inherent throughout the production network. Moreover, we find that quality processes are spatially embedded and that location facilitates both place-based branding and localised learning.

Quality and space: a framework for quality- based regional competitiveness: Contemporary Theories and Perspectives on Economic Development

Regional development, growth and competitiveness research has to a large extent come to focus on innovation and technological change. However, it is apparent that some economic activities remain competitive despite little or no innovation. To explore this, the chapter focuses on the role of ‘quality’, or quality processes, which lead to a ‘quality promise’ that is experienced, constructed, mediated and negotiated by systems of actors in specific spatial contexts. Few studies have seriously recognized the relationship between space and quality, especially in explaining global and regional competitiveness. The aim of this chapter, therefore, is to develop a theoretical framework for identifying and analysing quality processes creating and recreating understandings, perceptions and experiences of a quality promise. These processes are deeply rooted in space, stimulated by localized learning, which in turn facilitates place-based branding. Adding quality to the discourse of regional competitiveness may complement a traditional view criticized for treating growth as equivalent to regional prosperity, and thus contributing to regional, urban, and rural resilience and sustainability. Hence, quality is not only pertinent for development in advanced economies, but could also be part of development and progress in developing regions and countries. Additionally, a quality-based regional competiveness framework provides an increased focus on traditional (craft) products and processes. As such it may offer an alternative or additional way of upgrading local and regional products in global production networks, while encouraging local uniqueness and global adaptability.

Death by streaming or vinyl revival? Exploring the spatial dynamics and value-creating strategies of independent record shops in Stockholm

The contemporary retail landscape is in flux, and there is a growing perception that shopping at bricks and mortar stores is more expensive and time-consuming than shopping online. For music, illegal downloading and streaming have restructured the retail landscape and put thousands of record shops out of business. Yet, some retailers remain attractive consumption spaces. Drawing on a qualitative case study of independent record shops in Stockholm, this article considers three value-creating strategies that sustain these physical retailers in the digital age: cultivating in-store consumer experiences, creating value through curation, and tapping into global markets by going online.

Quality and space: a framework for quality- based regional competitiveness

The aim of this Handbook is to take stock of regional competitiveness and complementary concepts as a means of presenting a state-of-the-art discussion of the contemporary theories, perspectives and empirical explanations that help make sense of the determinants of uneven development across regions. Drawing on an international field of leading scholars, the book is assembled and organized so that readers can first learn about the theoretical underpinnings of regional competitiveness and development theory, before moving on to deeper discussions of key factors and principal elements, the emergence of allied concepts, empirical applications, and the policy context.

Place-based brands : Product origin, brand channels and global circuits

Traditionally, both the business and research worlds have posited direct links between products and place: Hollywood films, Paris fashion, and Swiss watches. It has been thought that regional and i ...