Local Dynamics of Industrial Upgrading

The Case of the Pearl River Delta in China

verfasst von: Yi Liu

Verlag: Springer Singapore

Buchreihe : Economic Geography

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

This book examines industrial upgrading in China’s Pearl River Delta (PRD), with a specific focus on how strategic coupling impacts industrial upgrading from the perspective of relational economic geography. It shows that firms in the PRD have been struggling after serving as low-tier suppliers and subcontractors for transnational corporations for two decades, since the 1980s opening reform in China. Indigenous innovation and direct state support have fostered the success of a few firms, but not the majority.
In response, many local firms are now taking advantage of the opportunities to be found in global production networks, which link the PRD with the global economy. This book elaborates on how these opportunities are embedded and identified in global production networks with regard to different types of strategic coupling. It not only renews the theory of strategic coupling in economic geography, but also demonstrates potential strategies that latecomer firms can pursue, and which can have major implications for many developing countries and regions.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. Introduction

Abstract

Industrial upgrading has been acknowledged as one of the most critical issues for latecomer firms to improve their competitiveness and succeed when they enter the global economy. As a latecomer region, the Pearl River Delta (PRD) in the People’s Republic of China (hereafter China) has been integrated into the global economy since the national ‘open-door’ reform in 1978.

Yi Liu

Chapter 2. Unpacking the Geography of Industrial Upgrading

Abstract

Since decades ago, mainstream economic geographers have devoted tremendous efforts to investigate regional development in relation to industrialization, global industrial shift, agglomeration and production organization, as well as recent research foci such as institutional influences, clustering, innovation, and networked regional economies.

Yi Liu

Chapter 3. The Interaction Between Strategic Coupling and Industrial Upgrading: A Framework

Abstract

In an era of globalization, the territorial ensembles of economic development, such as places, cities, and regions, are interconnected into complex production networks (Amin 1998; 2002). What makes globalization different from earlier stages is that the global shift of production networks breaks up a commodity chain into many segments which are geographically separated among different while interconnected sites. By plugging into these overarching production networks, firms in latecomer regions can receive the opportunities of upgrading to learn from TNCs. To many latecomer economies presently, attracting foreign investment or export-oriented industrialization has become a well-known tool for promoting economic growth. However, whether latecomer firms are able to catch up with foreign firms and achieve industrial upgrading is in question. Without upgrading, local firms are not competitive and highly substitutable.

Yi Liu

Chapter 4. Industrial Upgrading and Evolutionary Strategic Coupling in the Pearl River Delta

Abstract

Since the ‘Open-door’ Reform in 1979, China has been transformed from an isolated country into one of the world’s leading producers, traders, and destinations for FDI. In the first half year of 2010, China overtook Japan and became the second largest economy in the world with the GDP of $2.6 trillion.

Yi Liu

Chapter 5. Captive Coupling in the Electronics Industry: Relocation, Localization, and Local Upgrading

Abstract

The electronics industry is one of the most important sectors in the world because it employs more workers, generates greater revenue, and stimulates innovation across entire economies than any other sector (Mann and Kirkegaard in Accelerating the globalization of America: The next wave of information technology. Institute for International Economics, Washington, DC, 2006). In the PRD, the electronics industry is the most influential industry in terms of output and export value throughout three decades of development (see Chaps. 1 and 5). This chapter provides an examination of local upgrading in the PRD’s electronics industry.

Yi Liu

Chapter 6. Local Upgrading in the Apparel Industry: From Captive Coupling to Cooperative Coupling

Abstract

In Chap. 5, although clothing products are mostly low in value added and unsophisticated in technologies, the apparel industry serves virtually as the initial step of industrialization and even an important part of survival for latecomer economies (Dicken 2007).

Yi Liu

Chapter 7. Reciprocal Coupling and Industrial Upgrading in the Automotive Industry: The Balance of Interplay

Abstract

Scholars in the literature of industrial governance have argued that the automotive industry is subject to both captive and modular governance. Automakers play a dominant role due to high asset specificity and the complexity of inter-firm knowledge transactions.

Yi Liu

Chapter 8. The Geographies of Industrial Upgrading

Abstract

To many developing regions, export-oriented industrialization has become a well-known strategy for promoting industrial growth. But whether local firms in these regions can catch up with TNCs is still in question. What is the scope for local strategies so that a latecomer region can be upgraded and improve its competitiveness? This book has probed into industrial changes and dynamics in the PRD from three different industries to look for the answer.

Yi Liu

Backmatter

Titel: Local Dynamics of Industrial Upgrading
verfasst von: Yi Liu
Verlag: Springer Singapore
Electronic ISBN: 978-981-15-4297-8
Print ISBN: 978-981-15-4296-1
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4297-8