Yannick Lung

Innovation and Proximity Territories as Loci of Collective Learning Processes

The article focuses on the relationship between technological and organizational innovation, and territories. This relationship is connected to interactions between learning processes, institutions and spatial patterns of innovative activities. Starting from a conception of the economy as a learning and evolutionary process instead of a static allocative mechanism, we analyse the role of several types of proximity in innovative processes. If one considers innovation as a problem-solving oriented process, it may be analysed as grounded on non-market inter-actions, and knowledge-based. The article shows how geographical, organizational and institutional proximities relate to the operation of localized innovation systems. The institutional framework is of particular importance in this context owing to the fact that such innovation systems are grounded on collective action at a territorial level and rely upon shared patterns of behavioural and cognitive rules. The analysis of institutional proximity raises the problems of the embeddedness of interrelations between actors in a territorial framework, and the transferability of tacit knowledge. This framework is extended to the analysis of spatial patterns in the emergence and diffusion of industrial models. In our conception, the emergence of an industrial model has territorial foundations, but it is also dependent upon an institutional learning process. However, once stabilized and diffused, its relation to geography and territories evolves and transforms. We illustrate this analysis by referring to the emergence and diffusion of industrial models in the automobile industry. Finally, the framework is used to analyse the spatial effects of organizational changes in product development. These changes are both institutional and technological.

Proximity and localisation of corporate R&D activities

Abstract The present article is an attempt to analyse the geographical agglomeration of corporate research and development activities through the use of a desegregated sectorial approach. By focusing on those interfaces that are critical for the organisation of innovation-related activities, as well as on the degree of complexity of the knowledge base which is being mobilised, this study will seek to determine the exact nature, and the intensity, of the need for geographic proximity. The explanatory model will then be tested by an econometric analysis of the localisation and clustering of corporate R&D activities in France

The changing geography of the European automobile system

The paper analyses the new geography of the European automotive area associated with the enlargement of the European Union and the structural changes occurring in the automobile industrys productive organisation. The new geographic configuration is a double extension (enlargement) and intensification (through the spatial agglomeration of activities) movement. The first part of the paper discusses the enlargement towards new areas with the development of the automotive activities in Central and Eastern European countries, its impact on the Spanish and Portuguese automobile industries and on the core regions. The second part analyses the double trend which affects the location of automobile production activities in Europe: on one side, specialisation, reflecting automotive firms desire to benefit from the opportunities offered by the markets greater openness and by enlargement towards new zones; on the other side, the spatial agglomeration of activities (clustering).

The Scientific Trajectory of the French School of Proximity: Interaction- and Institution-based Approaches to Regional Innovation Systems

Abstract The multi-faceted concept of proximity is often used nowadays in many theoretical and empirical analyses. It mainly originates in some French regional scientists attempt, in the early 1990s, to develop new conceptual and methodological avenues with a view to the study of the industrial and spatial dynamics. The wide diffusion of the resulting research findings is explained by the fact that these scholars realized early on that it was in their interest to collectively structure their works through the setting-up of a research group. The present paper sets out to outline the scientific and institutional trajectories of the French group “Proximity Dynamics”, while underlining the progressive broadening of its scientific and institutional dimensions, as well as the main theoretical research fields these trajectories have permitted to investigate.

Global Strategies in the Automobile Industry

BÉLIS-BERGOUIGNAN M.-C., BORDENAVE G. and LUNG Y. (2000) Global strategies in the automobile industry, Reg. Studies 34, 41‐53. This paper views the multinational firm as a learning hierarchy , and presents a model capable of analysing the spatial organization of multinational firms. This model is based on two criteria: the principle of hierarchy; and the degree of hierarchical control. Four types of multinational companies are defined (world-wide, multidomestic, multiregional and transregional) and the process of internationalization is understood through the way in which firms develop their organizational capabilities. The model is applied to a study of the strategies which have been followed by American, Japanese and European carmakers. BÉLIS-BERGOUIGNAN M. C., BORDENAVE G. et LUNG Y. (2000) Les stratégies globales de lindustrie automobile, Reg. Studies 34, 41‐53. Combinant lapproche de la firme multinationale comme une “hiérarchie” et lanalyse évolutionniste de la firme à travers les processus dapprentissage collectif, larticle propose un modèle analytique relatif à lorganisation spatiale des firmes multinationales sur la base de deux critères (principe hiérarchique et degré de contrôle hiérarchique). Quatre configurations sont définies: firme mondiale, multidomestique, multirégionale et transrégionale. Le processus de multinationalisation est alors appréhendé à travers le développement des capacités organisationnelles de la firme et son évolution face aux modifications de son environnement concurrentiel. Cette grille est utilisée pour étudier linternationalisation de lindustrie automobile depuis les premières expansions américaines de Ford et GM dans les années vingt jusquaux tentatives récentes des Européens, en passant par les stratégies globales des Japonais. BÉLIS-BERGOUIGNAN M.-C., BORDENAVE G. und LUNG Y. (2000) Globale Strategien in der Automobilindustrie, Reg. Studies 34, 41‐53. Der vorliegende Aufsatz betrachtet multinationale Firmen als eine Lernhierarchie, und stellt ein Modell vor, das im Stande ist, die räumliche Organisation multinationaler Firmen zu analysieren. Dieses Modell stützt sich auf zwei Kriterien—das Prinzip der Hierarchie und das Ausmaß hierarchischer Kontrolle. Es werden zwei multinationale Firmentypen definiert (weltweite, multibinnenländische, multiregionale und Regionen überschreitende), und der Prozeß der Internationalisierung durch die Art und Weise erklärt, in der Firmen ihre organisatorischen Fähigkeiten entfalten. Das Modell wird auf eine Untersuchung der Strategien angewandt, die amerikanische, japanische und europäische Automobilproduzenten befolgt haben.

New Spatial Configurations in the European Automobile Industry

Based on a forecasting study of the geography of the European automobile industry, this paper analyses first its spatial hierarchy corresponding to a regional vertical division of labour within different countries in a centre-periphery framework. Central functions (marketing, planning, R & D, luxury and upper range car assembly, etc.) located in the Banane Bleue, are attracted by the centre of gravity in southern Germany, whereas peripheral functions (assembly of small cars, production of generic components) are decentralized to southern European countries, and now eastern countries. Secondly, the paper identifies factors governing its evolution: changes in production organization (technological innovation, lean production) and their impacts on the location of activities (through a desegregated approach to location constraints on different activities: assembly, manufacturing, generic and specific components, etc.), as well as the new competitive context on the European market (arrival of new competitors, reduction of overcapacity, new niches, etc.). Thirdly, a sketch of the spatial configuration of the European automobile industry in 2005 is proposed on the basis of two opposite modalities of complementary spatial dynamics: on one side, concentration versus decentralization of assembly plants; on the other side, polarization or dispersion of upstream activities. Their intersection leads to four possible scenario-configurations: agglomerated unipolar, dispersed unipolar, multipolar and continental integration. Finally, conditions which would encourage or, alternatively, impede each scenario are discussed.

The coordination of competencies and knowledge: a critical issue for regional automotive systems

The paper presents the GERPISA international networks new research programme (2000-2003) on the coordination of competences and knowledge in regional automotive systems. After defining a theoretical approach to the issue of coordination, the paper analyses the three main factors underlying the structural changes that are taking place in the auto industry the emergence of new types of knowledge, globalisation trends and the redefinition of social compromises. It then discusses the automotive systems reorganisation changes in the productive organisation (modular production) and the increasingly immaterial nature of automotive activities (services). An agenda for future research is briefly outlined in the conclusion.

Editorial: The Changing Face Of the European Periphery in the Automotive Industry

The automotive sector is often presented as a ‘globalized industry’: the governance of the valuechain is largely internationalized with a key role for global players (Freyssenet and Lung, 2000) who are dominant in both motor vehicle production (OEM) and component manufacturing (OES). As a matter of fact, the internationalization of the auto industry rather reflects a process of regionalization. Despite some cars being sold on a global scale, the contemporary development of the sector is largely based on regional markets, the products being differentiated between poles of the triad (North America, Europe, Japan) and even emerging markets, and on a regional division of labour within and between automotive firms in design, manufacture and sales of these regional products (Carrillo et al., 2004).

Complexity and Spatial Dynamics Modelling. From Catastrophe Theory to Self-organizing Process: A Review of the Literature

This paper is a survey of the spatial dynamics models found within systematic approaches to evolution which are based upon the paradigm of complexity. It includes a deterministic analysis of structural stability and spaces morphogenesis as proposed by the catastrophe theory and mathematical ecology, as well as an outline of those stochastic approaches which consider self-organizing spaces according to various principles (order through fluctuations or complexity through noise).

Public foresight exercises at an intermediate level: the French national programmes and the experience of Bordeaux

The article aims at describing an experience of technology foresight at the regional level. That experience was built upon previous national (and international) foresight studies. It is possible to analyse the institutional process of such a project in a global context, and also to draw some conclusions on the possibility and usefulness of articulating different geographical levels. The experience enlightens the notion of intermediate level in process of foresight, assessment or policy evaluation. Our study gives good confirmation of the fact that public technology foresight studies are often more valuable as a process of communication, network building and collective learning than for their results. The choice of the operators, their legitimacy and the right timing proved also to be crucial aspects for the success of such programs.