Luis Suarez-Villa

Operational Strategy, R&D and Intra-metropolitan Clustering in a Polycentric Structure: The Advanced Electronics Industries of the Los Angeles Basin

The multiple clustering of economic activities is one of the most distinctive characteristics of a polycentric metropolitan area. The relationship between intra-metropolitan location, research and development (R&D), operational strategy and production is analysed, to determine whether spatial clusters are more supportive of R&D than non-clustered locations. Two major operational strategies commonly utilised in advanced electronics production, outsourcing and the use of just-in-time (JIT) production methods, and their relationship with intra-metropolitan location and R&D intensity are considered, to determine their effects on spatially clustered and non-clustered establishments. The intra-metropolitan distribution of clusters in the Los Angeles basin, their potential industrial district effects, and the role of externalities are also evaluated, to determine the relationship between polycentricity and high-technology production. Extensive statistical analyses are then undertaken with establishment-level data for seven 4-digit advanced electronics sectors, in the telecommunications, electromedical and advanced computer equipment manufacturing groups in the Los Angeles basin. Comparative statistical analyses on a sample of Silicon Valley establishments are also performed, in order to place the Los Angeles basins findings in perspective. The results of this research contradict some of the most common assumptions on the benefits of spatial industrial clustering, that have been diffused in the literature.

The Structures of Cooperation: Downscaling, Outsourcing and the Networked Alliance

This article explores interfirm cooperation and its relationship with downscaling, cooperative outsourcing, and the network structures of multiple firm alliances. Downscaling is defined and related to cooperative outsourcing, as major influences shaping interfirm relations. The advantages of embedding cooperative outsourcing in strategic alliances are then addressed, with special relevance to small and medium-size firms. Five types of network structures that may develop within alliances are considered, relating their main characteristics and internal division of labor to various aspects of interfirm cooperation, such as embeddedness, disparities, commitment and trust.

Innovation, networks and localities

Preface 1 Innovation, Networks and Localities: An Introduction Manfred M. Fischer and Luis Suarez-Villa PART A: KNOWLEDGE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY NETWORKS 2 The Innovation Process and Network Activities of Manufacturing Firms Manfred M. Fischer 3 Are Innovation Networks Bounded by Proximity? Elsie L. Echeverri-Carroll and William Brennan 4 Globalisation and Territorial Production Systems Denis Maillat and Nicolas Grosjean 5 Clustering, Innovations and Trust: The Essentials of a Clustering Strategy for Scotland Mike Danson and Geoff Whittam 6 Interfirm Co-Operation and Learning within SME-Networks Michael Steiner and Christian Hartmann PART B: LOCATION OF KNOWLEDGE-BASED ACTIVITIES AND SPATIAL PATTERNS OF INNOVATION 7 The Location of Knowledge-Based Activities: The Case of Computer Software Rena Sivitanidou 8 Localised Knowledge Spillovers and Trade Competitiveness: The Case of Italy Stefano Breschi and Daniela Palma 9 Innovation and Performance of SMEs in Italy: The Relevance of Spatial Aspects Roberto Camagni and Roberta Capello 10 Time-space Patterns of US Innovation - Stability or Change? Attila Varga 11 Where are the Worlds Top 100 I.T. Firms and Why? R.D. Norton PART C: INNOVATIVE INFRASTRUCTURES, TECHNOLOGY POLICIES AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT 12 The Adoption of New Communications Technologies by Firms in Rural Areas: A Scottish Case Study David Newlands and Melanie Ward 13 Innovative Forms of Regional Structural Policy in Europe: The Role of Dominant Concepts and Knowledge Flows Arnoud Lagendijk 14 Regional Technological Distance and Catching Up Maurice J. Oude Wansink and Hans Maks 15 Concluding Remarks Manfred M. Fischer, Luis Suarez-Villa, Michael Steiner Subject Index Author Index List of Contributors

Regional economic integration and the evolution of disparities

This paper provides an overview of the evolution of interregional disparities in Europe and in the United States in recent decades, considering also the changes that economic integration over the 1990s and beyond may bring. The assumptions of the existing paradigms on differential regional change are placed in perspective, by relating them to past and ongoing changes in interregional disparities. Data on the European (EC) and United States cases are analyzed, providing insights into past performance and into its possible causes. A final section then discusses the characteristics of regional inversion processes, and their potential for reducing interregional disparities as economic integration advances. These macro-level characteristics are related to micro-level processes in which innovation (technological, organizational, institutional) plays a central role, allowing less developed regions to bypass a rigid or static domestic spatial division of labor through the inversion process.

Outsourcing, R&D and the Pattern of Intra-metropolitan Location: The Electronics Industries of Madrid

The relationship between intra-metropolitan location, research and development (R&D) and the outsourcing of production is analysed to determine differences in, and the supportive character of, intra-metropolitan areas for high-technology production. Madrids electronics industries have shown a remarkable resilience, in the face of extensive economic restructuring and the change in trade regimes that has accompanied continental integration. Much of the strength of the electronics sector may have been due to the metropolitan areas support for outsourcing, and the creative specialisation that it facilitated. The distribution of manufacturing establishments, their local sourcing characteristics, industrial district or agglomeration effects, and the role of R&D are evaluated to determine the intra-metropolitan context of production. Extensive statistical analyses of the relationship between R&D and productive performance, with various indicators of capital, costs, revenues and scale, are undertaken with establishment-level survey data. These analyses provide conclusive evidence of the influence of intra-metropolitan location on R&D and internal organisation.

Metropolitan Evolution, Sectoral Economic Change, and the City Size Distribution

Metropolitan evolution is conceptualised from a broad, long term perspective that focuses on demographic and sectoral economic variables. Emphasis is placed on understanding these changes from a process-oriented approach that considers its general relevance rather than its outcomes or microanalytic details. A selective review of the literature provides a significant perspective and background on the stages model that is applied to the study of metropolitan change. This is then related to the Pareto city size distribution by considering the interurban population distribution coefficient and its expected performance over the various phases of metropolitan evolution. A hypothetical interurban manufacturing employment distribution coefficient, analogous to the Pareto population coefficient, is also considered and is related to the process of metropolitan and interurban sectoral economic change. The relationship between metropolitan change and national urban size distribution is viewed as a significant component of the emerging hierarchy of global metropolitan cities in both advanced and developing nations.

The Development of Sweden's R&D-Intensive Electronics Industries: Exports, Outsourcing, and Territorial Distribution

Swedens research-intensive electronics industries have thrived by developing export-market niches that rely greatly on continuous innovation and substantial expenditures in R&D. Over the past two decades, three R&D-intensive sectors (telecommunications equipment, electronic instruments, and computing-equipment manufacturing) have experienced a progressive territorial distribution, that has made them less reliant on the metropolitan concentration of the capital for their outsourcing and research arrangements. In this article we explore the relationship between R&D intensity, territorial distribution, subcontracting, and establishment performance in the R&D-intensive electronics industries. The export performance of these industries is considered first, along with its relationship with employment characteristics and territorial location. An analysis of the territorial distribution, and its relationship with establishment downsizing and subcontracting, provides insights on the significance of lower costs and higher R&D intensity for small-scale operations. Statistical analyses of R&D intensity and performance variables that include labour skills, plant size, production costs, fixed capital assets, and profitability, with establishment-level survey data, provide important insights on the effects of subcontracting and any spatial differences resulting thereof.

Technology, Organization and Export-Driven Research and Development In Austria'S Electronics Industry

SUAREZ-VILLA L. and FISCHER M. M. (1995) Technology, organization and export-driven research and development in Austrias electronics industry, Reg. Studies 29, 19–42. Over the past two decades Austrias export-driven electronics industry has experienced a progressive territorial distribution that has substantially decentralized production and employment. Nevertheless, the capital regions concentration has provided many advantages to R & D-intensive establishments through subcon-tractual opportunities and better access to advanced research and production skills. This paper analyses the relationship between R & D, territorial location and the most important organizational characteristics in Austrias electronics industries. An assessment of operational motivations, based on establishment-level survey data, is followed by a factor analysis that reveals the main organizational dimensions. Statistical analyses of the association between R & D intensity, territorial location and the organizational factors are...

The Rise of Korea's Electronics Industry: Technological Change, Growth, and Territorial Distribution

The growth of Koreas electronics industry has been characterized by two major takeoffs that have turned this nation into a major global producer in less than two decades. These export-driven takeoffs involved rapid technological shifts that emphasized production in different electronics sectors and utilized Koreas most significant international advantage, low-cost labor. In this process, Koreas territorial division of labor has played a major role, promoting substantial concentration in the primate metropolitan region during each takeoff, while a process of dispersion occurs during intertakeoff periods. Statistical tests with a representative sample of electronics plants show that territorial location is a far more important determinant of interregional and local integration than the temporal parameter. A narrow focus on takeoff dynamics that does not incorporate the territorial dimension would therefore provide an inadequate explanation of Koreas emergence in electronics production and of the domesti...

The manufacturing process cycle and the industrialization of the United States-Mexico borderlands

This article introduces the concept of the manufacturing process cycle and provides a general analysis of the developmental dynamics of industrialization, comparing U.S. industrial heartland regions with the United States-Mexico border area. The manufacturing process cycle focuses on corporate organizational behavior as a major factor influencing industry shifts and relocations. It assumes that the strategic priorities of corporate decision-making will vary according to the temporal stage of development of each industrys production process. Seven indexes and selected 3- and 4-digit industry data from U.S. regions and border states (1947–1977) and from Mexicos Border Industrialization Program (1974–1981) are analyzed to provide indications of temporal changes and phases of process development in selected border industries. The analysis concludes that, within general parameters, the performances of the majority of the various industries surveyed conform to the assumptions of the manufacturing process cycle.