Among the variety of old industrial areas, districts involved in the production of light consumer goods are a special case. Taking the single still-surviving footwear-production district in Germany as an example, the author makes an attempt to reflect on the long-term decline of an industrial district and the resulting path dependency of regional development. An evolutionary approach is taken which starts from different institutional bases and reveals a complex mix of temporalities and spatialities in the development path of enterprises and the region. The major empirical findings contrast two dominant types of strategic response to decline: firms either stayed in the industry, but left the region; or stayed in the region, but left the industry. The author concludes by mapping implications for territorial development.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AminACohendetP, 2004Architectures of Knowledge: Firms, Capabilities, and Communities (Oxford University Press, Oxford).
2.
BenderR J, 1979Wasgau/Pfalz: Untersuchungen zum wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Wandel eines verkehrsfernen Raumes monoindustrieller Prägung [Wasgau/Pfalz: an investigation on the economic and social change of a remote area of mono-industrial character] Mannheimer Geographische Arbeiten 5, Geographisches Institut der Universität Mannheim, Mannheim.
3.
BertramHSchampE W, 1999, “Deindustrialization, restructuring and exit strategies of firms in ageing industrial districts: The cases of footwear and leather goods industries in Germany, compared”, in Demography of Firms: Spatial Dynamics of Firm Behaviour Eds van DijkJPellenbargP H, Netherlands Geographical Studies 262, Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, pp 67–86.
4.
BestM H, 1999, “Regional growth dynamics: A Capabilities perspective”Contributions to Political Economy18105–119.
5.
BianchiG, 1998, “Requiem for the Third Italy? Rise and fall of a too successful concept”Entrepreneurship and Regional Development1093–116.
6.
BoschmaR AFrenkenK, 2003, “Evolutionary economics and industry location”Review for Regional Research23183–200.
7.
BoschmaR ALambooyJ G, 1999a, “Evolutionary economics and economic geography”Journal of Evolutionary Economics9411–429.
8.
BoschmaR ALambooyJ G, 1999b, “The prospects of an adjustment policy based on collective learning in old industrial regions”GeoJournal49391–399.
9.
FossN J, 1997a, “Evolutionary economics and the theory of the firm: Assessments and proposals for research”, in Economics and Evolution Ed. ReijndersJ (Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, Glos) pp 69–105.
10.
FossN J, 1997b, “Edith Penrose, economics and strategic management”Contributions to Political Economy1887–104.
11.
FröbelFHeinrichsJKreyeO, 1980The New International Division of Labour (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge).
12.
GereffiGKorzeniewiczM (Eds), 1994Commodity Chains and Global Capitalism (Praeger, New York).
13.
GrabherG, 1993, “The weakness of strong ties: The lock-in of regional development in the Ruhr area”, in The Embedded Firm: On the Socioeconomics of Industrial Networks Ed. GrabherG (Routledge, London) pp 255–277.
14.
HarrisonB, 1997Lean and Mean: The Changing Landscape of Corporate Power in the Age of Flexibility2nd edition (Guilford Press, New York).
15.
HayterR, 1997The Dynamics of Industrial Location: The Factory, the Firm and the Production System (John Wiley, Chichester, Sussex).
16.
HDS, 2003, “Pressekonferenz 06. März 2003 Düsseldorf Industrie-Club”HDS NewsHauptverband der Deutschen Schuhindustrie, Waldstrasse 44, D-63065, Offenbach am Main.
17.
HudsonR, 1994Institutional change, cultural transformation, and economic regeneration: Myths and realities from Europe's old industrial areas”, in Globalization, Institutions, and Regional Development in Europe Eds AminAThriftN (Oxford University Press, Oxford) pp 196–216.
18.
KrumbeinW (Ed.), 1994Ökonomische und politische Netzwerke in der Region: Beiträge aus der internationalen Debatte [Economic and political networks in the region: contributions from an international perspective] (Lit, Münster).
19.
KuligkS, 1976Standörtliche Analyse der monoindustriellen Agglomeration. Dargestellt am Beispiel des aktuellen monoindustriellen Pirmasenser Problemgebietes unter besonderer Berücksichtigung regionalpolitischer Aspekte [Locational analysis of a mono-industrial agglomeration, exemplifed with the current mono-industrial problem area of Pirmasens with special reference to aspects of regional policy] PhD dissertation, Free University, Berlin.
20.
LoasbyB J, 2000, “Market institutions and economic evolution”Journal of Evolutionary Economics10297–309.
21.
LowderSt, 1999, ‘Globalisation of the footwear industry: A Simple case of labour?”Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie9047–60.
22.
MarkusenA, 1994, “Studying regions by studying firms”The Professional Geographer46477–490.
23.
MarkusenA, 1996, “Sticky places in slippery space: A Typology of industrial districts”Economic Geography72293–313.
24.
MathewsJ A, 2002, “A resource-based view of Schumpeterian economic dynamics”Journal of Evolutionary Economics1229–54.
25.
NelsonR R, 2002, “Bringing institutions into evolutionary growth theory”Journal of Evolutionary Economics1217–28.
26.
NelsonR RWinterS G, 1982An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change (Belknap Press, Cambridge, MA).
27.
PantscharowitschPKemnerA, 2002, “Portugal oder Pirmasens?—Standortfrage für Peter Kaiser” [Portugal or Pirmasens?—a location question for Peter Kaiser]Steptechnik424–29.
28.
RabelottiR, 2004, “How globalisation affects Italian industrial districts: The case of Brenta”, in Local Enterprises in the Global Economy: Issues of Governance and Upgrading Ed. SchmitzH (Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, Glos).
29.
SchampE W, 2000aVernetzte Produktion: Industriegeographie aus institutioneller Perspektive [Networked production: industrial geography from an institutional perspective] (Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt).
30.
SchampE W, 2000b, “Decline and renewal in industrial districts: Exit strategies of SMEs in consumer goods industrial districts of Germany”, in The Networked Firm in a Global World. Small Firms in New Environments Eds VatneETaylorM (Ashgate, Aldershot, Hants) pp 257–281.
31.
SchampE W, 2002, “Evolution und Institution als Grundlagen einer dynamischen Wirtschaftsgeographie: Die Bedeutung von externen Skalenerträgen für geographische Konzentration” [Evolution and institution as a basis for a dynamic economic geography: The meaning of external economies of scale for geographical concentration]Geographische Zeitschrift9040–51.
TaylorM, 2001, “The concept of the firm in economic geography”Economic geography77315–328.
34.
van DijkJPellenbargP (Eds), 1999Demography of Firms. Spatial Dynamics of Firm Behaviour Netherlands Geographical Studies 262, Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen.
35.
van GeenhuizenM, 1999, “An evolutionary approach to firm dynamics: Adaptation and path dependency”, in Regional Development in an Age of Structural Economic Change Eds RietveldPSheferD (Ashgate, Aldershot, Hants) pp 35–51.
36.
WerlenB, 1997Sozialgeographie alltäglicher Regionalisierungen. Band 2: Globalisierung, Region und Regionalisierung [Social geography of daily regionalisations, volume 2: globalisation, the region and regionalisation] (Franz Steiner, Stuttgart).
37.
YamamuraKStreeckW (Eds), 2003The End of Diversity? Prospects for German and Japanese Capitalism (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY).
