Cities Regions and Competitiveness
Cities Regions and Competitiveness
Productivity
Agglomeration economies
Business networks
Clusters
T I. (2004) Les grandes villes, les regions et la competitivite, Regional Studies 38, 10611075. La competitivite est une
notion complexe que lon emploie dans diverses facons et contextes. Cet article cherche a` faire la critique de quelques-unes
des principales idees, notamment en ce qui concerne les villes et les regions. Sa definition devrait inclure le positionnement
relatif des entreprises regionales sur les marches exterieurs, la productivite des ressources locales, et leur taux dutilisation. La
concurrence prend et un caracte`re institutionnalise (sous forme dorganismes gouvernementaux qui se font ouvertement
concurrence pour linvestissement et dautres ressources) et, plus important encore, un caracte`re moins organise impliquant des
entreprises qui font du commerce sur des marches plus vastes. Il y a deux points de vue opposes quant a` lavantage competitif
des cites-regions. Lun souligne les atouts de lechelle et de la diversite qui proviennent de la concentration de lactivite
economique. Lautre met laccent plutot sur la qualite des rapports entre les entreprises et les services dassistance technique.
Des etudes recentes laissent supposer que limportance des reseaux ou des regroupements commerciaux de proximite sexage`re
et quil faut une interpretation plus large de la competitivite des cites-regions.
Competitivite des cites-regions
Regroupements
Productivite
Economies dagglomeration
Reseaux commerciaux
T I. (2004) Grostadte, Regionen und Konkurrenzfahigkeit, Regional Studies 38, 10611075. Konkurrenzfahigkeit ist ein
komplexer Begri, der auf verschiedene Arten und in verschiedenen Zusammenhangen angewandt wird. Dieser Aufsatz
bespricht einige der meist gebrauchten Ideen, besonders im Hinblick auf Grostadte und Regionen. Seine Definition sollte die
relative Stellung der Firmen einer Region im Auenhandel enthalten, sowie die Produktivitat einheimischer Mittel, und das
Ausma, in dem sie verwertet werden. Wettbewerb erscheint sowohl in institutionalisierter Form (wenn ortsansassige oentliche
Agenturen sich oen um Investierungen und andere Mittel bewerben), und, was wichtiger ist, in weniger organisierter Form,
wenn Firmen auf weiter entfernten Markten handeln. Man kann die Wettbewerbsvorteile einer Grostadtregion aus zwei
gegensatzlichen Perspektiven sehen: die eine betont die Vorteile von Umfang und Vielfalt, die sich aus Konzentrationen
wirtschaftlicher Betatigung ergeben, die andere legt Gewicht auf die Qualitat der gegenseitigen Einwirkungen auf Firmen und
Ruckhalt gewahrenden Institutionen. In jungster Zeit durchgefuhrte Untersuchungen legen nahe, da die Bedeutung ortlich
begrenzter Geschaftsnetzwerke oder Cluster ubertrieben sein durfte, und durch eine breitere Perspektive der Konkurrenzfahigkeit
von Grostadtregionen ersetzt werden sollte.
Konkurrenzfahigkeit von Grostadtregionen
GER clusters
Produktivitat
Ballungswirtschaften
Geschaftsnetzwerke
T I. (2004) Ciudades, regiones y competitividad, Regional Studies 38, 10611075. El concepto de competitividad es un
concepto complejo que se ha utilizado de muchas formas y en muchos contextos distintos. Este artculo revisa algunas de las
ideas principales, particularmente aquellas que se aplican a ciudades y regiones. Su definicion debera inclur la posicion relativa
que las empresas de una region ocupan en los mercados externos, la productividad de los recursos locales, y el grado hasta el
cual se hace uso de ellos. La nocion de competicion adquiere tanto una forma institucionalizada (organismos publicos locales
que compiten abiertamente por inversiones y otros recursos) y, mas importante todava, una forma menos organizada que
implica el comercio en mercados mas amplios por parte de las empresas. Existen dos perspectivas opuestas sobre las ventajas
0034-3404 print/1360-0591 online/04/091069-15 2004 Regional Studies Association
http://www.regional-studies-assoc.ac.uk
DOI: 10.1080/0034340042000292647
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competitivas de las ciudades-regiones. Una de ellas enfatiza los beneficios de la escala y la diversidad que fluyen de las
concentraciones de actividad econo mica. La otra acentu a la calidad de las interacciones entre las empresas y las instituciones de
apoyo. Estudios recientes sugieren que puede que se haya exagerado la significancia de redes comerciales o de clusters localizados
y que se requiere una punto de vista ma s amplio cuando se habla de competitividad ciudad-regio n.
Competitividad ciudad-regio n
Productividad
Economas de aglomeracio n
Redes comerciales
Clusters
INTRODUCTION
The notion of competitiveness has become pervasive
in urban, regional, and national economic analysis and
policy during the last decade. However, its prolific use
has outstripped coherent definition or robust evidence
of its validity. In fact, the term is far from straightforward and has been used in many dierent ways and
contexts. The purpose of this paper is to review and
provide a preliminary assessment of some of the main
interpretations of the concept, particularly as they apply
to cities and regions. Two key questions explored are:
in what sense do such places compete, and what are
their underlying sources of competitive advantage in
contemporary advanced economies?
The idea of competitiveness implies identification of
a fundamental determinant of place prosperity, i.e. the
basis for sustainable growth in modern economies.
Competitiveness is not really an end in itself, more an
indication of the drivers and dynamics of economic
success. It is important therefore to go beyond descriptive economic measures, such as income per capita or
employment trends, to explore the underlying sources
of improved economic performance. What are the
common physical, economic, social and institutional
resources or assets of a city-region that influence the
performance of its firms?
It can be argued that the notion encompasses three
important determinants of economic development,
particularly the following:
Ability of local firms to sell their products in contested external markets (trade).
Value of these products and the eciency with which
they are produced (productivity).
Utilization of local human, capital and natural
resources (e.g. the employment rate).
(diversity). It can also obscure variable economic performance over time (volatility) and the uneven consequences of competitive success for dierent social
groups and areas (inequality).
The structure of the paper is as follows. The next
two sections outline why competitiveness has become
such a widespread concern among local, regional and
national authorities. The third and fourth sections
consider the functions of overt competition between
places involving public organizations. The following
three sections explore the changing sources of and
obstacles to urban and regional competitiveness involving firms. The conclusion provides some reflections on
the most recent ideas.
ORIGINS OF COMPETITIVENESS
Two of the main reasons for the notion of competitiveness gaining currency are the increasing international mobility of capital and more open national
markets globalization for short. Economies have
become more interconnected through rising exports
and imports and increasing foreign direct investment.
This has occurred because of declining trade barriers,
falling transport costs and the growth of transnational
corporations (TNCs). The emergence of new economic powers, particularly in Asia, and generally more
competitive markets for products and services have
intensified the pressure on costs and increased economic
insecurity and the risk of instability. More integrated
financial markets and international agreements between
governments have made it more dicult to pursue
traditional macro-economic policies independently.
Consequently, a variety of micro-economic, supplyside measures have been put forward to improve the
eciency of firms internal processes and to enhance
the quality and value of their products, and thereby
secure their share of world markets and jobs. Productivity in this broad sense of creating or enhancing
competitive advantage has been portrayed as central to
long-term economic progress. It is important for
regions and nations to pay their way in the world in
terms of exporting sucient goods and services to
pay for imports. Therefore, productivity and trade
performance are closely related to competitiveness.
Some governments have tended towards a low-cost,
laissez-faire approach to raising competitiveness, including liberalization of domestic markets, privatization of
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authorities have less control over their assets and liabilities than firms, so the links between what they do and
the outcome is more indirect and uncertain. The
calculation is bound to vary between the markets in
which cities compete, depending on the characteristics
of the competitive process and who experiences the
benefit and burden. It is also likely to vary in dierent
countries depending on the link in the financial system
between a citys economic performance and its tax
receipts. In general, one might expect cities with
inherent economic advantages at the outset to be more
inclined to participate in competitive activities than
those in weaker positions, because they stand more
chance of success.
There is little or no direct incentive for UK cities
and regions to promote economic growth because the
revenue from business rates is pooled nationally and
distributed as part of local authorities overall funding
allocation, which is driven by a formula.6 This grant
system generally cancels out the eects of changing
property values on local authority revenues and household deprivation on their expenditure. Only population
growth has any real fiscal eect and this is not necessarily positive. Growth imposes costs through transport
congestion and environmental damage, and requires
investment in physical and social infrastructure (H. M.
T, 2003b). Lack of public funds to tackle
congestion and shortages of housing and schools may
limit the capacity of places to grow. In addition, administrative boundaries separating residential suburbs from
commercial cores complicate assessment of the eects
of growth since the costs falls unevenly and the benefits
leak out. Public authorities often encounter considerable political opposition to new development, particularly towards new roads and housing around existing
suburbs, and especially in pressurized regions. Therefore, decision-makers face many considerations that can
more than oset the gains from growth.
Nevertheless, a competitive political system, electoral
pressures to create and safeguard jobs, and lobbying by
selected business interests to help them grow mean that
all except the most prosperous dormitory suburbs and
towns normally make some eort to maintain or
enhance their economic position. The intensity of their
eort is bound to be sensitive to the economic cycle.
The form it takes may also be symbolic as much as
substantial. There are opportunities for most areas to
access special resources for this purpose, such as regeneration budgets from central government, European
funds or Lottery money, although the scale may be
limited in non-assisted areas.
One of the diculties facing local decision-makers
is uncertainty about what policies to pursue. Their
choice may be influenced by central government controls, the rules of other external funders, the pressure
for visible actions, fashionable ideas or advice from
consultants. They may also be swayed by special
interests for whom the payos from development are
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upgrading their technological capabilities and becoming more fashion oriented, which requires closer
collaboration between firms.
S (1994) also emphasized the importance
of local social relationships and the institutional context
for business. Industrial performance was greatly
enhanced where there was a culture of co-operative
competition. In a study of the US electronics industry,
Saxenian concluded that Silicon Valleys (California)
greater success over Bostons (Massachusetts) Route
128 was its decentralized, network-based system that
encouraged informal communication, collaboration
and learning between firms. This culture fostered
greater innovation and adaptation to changing markets
and technologies than the hierarchical, vertically integrated and excessively rigid institutional structure of
Route 128.
Paradoxically, regions oer an important source of competitive advantage even as production and markets become
increasingly global. Geographic proximity promotes the
repeated interaction and mutual trust needed to sustain
collaboration and to speed the continual recombination
of technology and skill.
(S, 1994, p. 161)7
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