Local Clusters in Global Value Chains: Linking Actors and Territories Through Manufacturing and Innovation

245 Pages·2017·3 MB·English

by  Valentina De Marchi

Local Clusters in Global Value Chains
The international fragmentation of economic activities – from research and design to produc-
tion and marketing – described through the lens of the global value chain (GVC) approach
impacts the structure and performance of small and medium-s ized enterprises (SMEs)
agglomerated in economic clusters. The consolidation of GVCs ruled by global lead firms
and the recession of 2008–09 exacerbated the pressures on cluster actors that based their
competitive advantage on local systems, spurring an increasing heterogeneity, both across
and within clusters, that is still overlooked in the literature.
Drawing on detailed studies of different industries and countries, Local Clusters in Global
Value Chains shows the co- evolutionary trajectories of clusters and GVCs, and the role of
firms and their strategies in organizing manufacturing and innovation activities in the con-
text of ongoing technological shifts. The book explores the tension between place-b ased
variables and global drivers of change, and the possibility for territories containing such
clusters to prosper in the new global scenario. By adopting insights from the GVC frame-
work and management studies, the book discusses how the internationalization strategies of
firms create opportunities as well as constraints for adaptive upgrading in clusters.
This book is relevant to both researchers and policy- makers who are interested in the
dynamic sources of competitive advantage in the global economy.
Valentina De Marchi is Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics and Manage-
ment at the University of Padova, Italy. Her research focuses on the managerial implications
of environmental innovations and on the evolution of industrial districts within global value
chains.
Eleonora Di Maria is Associate Professor at the Department of Economics and Management
at the University of Padova, Italy. Her research focuses on internationalization, innovation
and sustainability strategies of firms and local economic systems, as well as on evolutionary
trends of knowledge- intensive business services.
Gary Gereffi is Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of the Center on Globaliza-
tion, Governance & Competitiveness at Duke University. He published numerous books and
articles on globalization and social and economic development; he is one of the originators
of the global value chain framework.
Routledge Studies in Global Competition
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and
David Mowery,
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For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com/Routledge-
Studies-in-Global-Competition/book-series/RSGC
60 The Economics of Creativity
Ideas, Firms and Markets
Edited by Thierry Burger-Helmchen
61 Epistemic Economics and Organization
Forms of Rationality and Governance for a Discovery Oriented Economy
Anna Grandori
62 Universities, Cities and Regions
Loci for Knowledge and Innovation Creation
Edited by Roberta Capello, Agnieszka Olechnicka and Grzegorz Gorzelak
63 Strategies for Shaping Territorial Competitiveness
Edited by Jesús M. Valdaliso and James R. Wilson
64 The Economics of Knowledge, Innovation and Systemic Technology Policy
Edited by Francesco Crespi and Francesco Quatraro
65 University Technology Transfer
The Globalization of Academic Innovation
Edited by Shiri Breznitz and Henry Etzkowitz
66 Innovation, Alliances, and Networks in High- Tech Environments
Edited by Fiorenza Belussi and Luigi Orsi
67 The Global Management of Creativity
Edited by Marcus Wagner, Jaume Valls- Pasola and Thierry Burger- Helmchen
68 Catching Up and Leapfrogging
The New Latecomers in the Integrated Circuits Industry
Xiao- Shan Yap and Rajah Rasiah
69 Local Clusters in Global Value Chains
Linking Actors and Territories Through Manufacturing and Innovation
Edited by Valentina De Marchi, Eleonora Di Maria and Gary Gereffi
Local Clusters in Global
Value Chains
L inking Actors and Territories Through
Manufacturing and Innovation
Edited by Valentina De Marchi,
Eleonora Di Maria and Gary Gereffi
First published 2018
by Routledge
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© 2018 selection and editorial matter, Valentina De Marchi, Eleonora Di Maria
and Gary Gereffi; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Valentina De Marchi, Eleonora Di Maria and Gary Gereffi to be
identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their
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the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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ISBN: 978- 1- 138- 74286- 4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978- 1- 315- 18204- 9 (ebk)
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Contents
List of figures vii
List of tables viii
Contributors x
Foreword and acknowledgements xii
Abbreviations xiii
1 Industrial districts, clusters and global value chains: toward
an integrated framework 1
VALENTINA DE MARCHI, ELEONORA DI MARIA AND GARY GEREFFI
PART I
Co- evolution of clusters and global value chains 19
2 Italian industrial districts today: between decline and openness to
global value chains 21
ELISA GIULIANI AND ROBERTA RABELLOTTI
3 Evolutionary trajectories of industrial districts in global value chains 33
VALENTINA DE MARCHI, GARY GEREFFI AND ROBERTO GRANDINETTI
4 Clusters, industrial districts and the impact of their growing intersection
with global value chains 51
Mario DaViDE Parrilli anD Jiří BlažEk
PART II
The role of lead firms in global value chains and clusters 69
5 MNEs and clusters: the creation of place- anchored value chains 71
FIORENzA BELUSSI, ANNALISA CALOFFI AND SILVIA RITA SEDITA
vi Contents
6 Global value chains and the role of MNEs in local production systems 94
MARIACHIARA BARzOTTO, GIANCARLO CORò AND MARIO VOLPE
7 Knowledge, systemic contribution and brokerage in industrial clusters 114
FranCESC XaViEr Molina- MoralES, luiS MarTínEz- CháFEr anD
JoSé anTonio BElSo- MarTínEz
8 Local liabilities between immigrant and native entrepreneurship in
clusters and global value chains 133
SIMONE GUERCINI
PART III
Value chain activities: rethinking the role of manufacturing
and innovation 153
9 Manufacturing, where art thou? Value chain organization and
cluster- firm strategies between local and global 155
MARCO BETTIOL, MARIA CHIARVESIO, ELEONORA DI MARIA AND
STEFANO MICELLI
10 Networks of clusters within global value chains: the case of the European
ceramic tile districts in Spain and Italy 175
JOSE LUIS HERVAS- OLIVER AND MARIO DAVIDE PARRILLI
11 The role of manufacturing within industrial districts: proposing and
testing an innovative methodology 193
RUGGERO GOLINI AND ALBACHIARA BOFFELLI
12 New frontiers for competitiveness and innovation in clusters and
value-chains research 213
VALENTINA DE MARCHI, ELEONORA DI MARIA AND GARY GEREFFI
Index 227
Figures
2.1 Stylized models of ID-G VC involvement in Italy 25
4.1 Typical intersections between types of clusters and types of GVCs 53
4.2 Streamlining the supply base within GVC and the resulting “cascade effect” 56
4.3 The development of global R&D centres – the case of Intel 61
6.1 Offshoring index for Italy and the Veneto region 1999–2011 100
7.1 Types of brokerage 124
9.1 Governance of value chain in the case studies analysed: the
Montebelluna cluster 168
9.2 Governance of value chain in the case studies analysed: the furniture cluster 168
9.3 Governance of value chain in the case studies analysed: the Belluno
eyewear cluster 169
10.1 Historic transformation of value chains 177
10.2 Production evolution in Castellon and Sassuolo IDs 185
10.3 Employment evolution in Castellon and Sassuolo IDs 186
11.1 Phases, stages and activities in textile and clothing value chain 197
11.2 Detail of percentage of sales and purchases by location for each
manufacturing stage 201
11.3 Coverage of value chain stages by the manufacturing companies in
the sample 202
11.4 Companies distribution in terms of variety and uniqueness 204
Tables
1.1 Comparing the cluster and GVC literatures on key analytical dimensions 8
3.1 Trajectories of ID evolution in GVCs 35
3.2 Identifying the IDs analysed 37
3.3 Overview of the Vicenza, Belluno, Montebelluna and Riviera del
Brenta clusters and their position in the GVC 43
3.4 key local/global determinants of iD trajectories in GVCs 44
3.5 key local/global determinants of iD trajectories in GVCs in the cases analysed 45
4.1 Types of upgrading in GVCs and clusters and their frequency 58
5.1 Scientific literature about timing of entry of MnEs in clusters 74
5.2 Basic characteristics of the four clusters analysed 79
5.3 Overview of the Montebelluna, Dongguan, Riviera del Brenta and
Timişoara clusters in the GVC 80
6.1 Case study main characteristics 103
7.1 Overview of the ceramic tile and toy valley clusters in the GVC 120
7.2 Sample firms’ profile 123
7.3 Dependent, independent and control variables 124
7.4 Results for the toy sector 125
7.5 Results for the ceramic tile sector 125
8.1 native and immigrant firms in textile and clothing in the local Prato area
(2002–14) 138
8.2 Evolution of the positions covered by native and immigrant local firms of
Prato in their global value chain 141
8.3 Overview of Prato Italian-n ative and Chinese-i mmigrant clusters in the GVC 143
8.4 Liability of foreignness, liability of outsidership and local liabilities 145
8.5 Overcoming “local liabilities”: an adaptation from the Uppsala Model 146
9.1 Overview of the Italian clusters analysed 160
9.2 Overview of the Italian sportsystem, furniture, eyewear clusters in the GVC 161
9.3 Case studies overview 163
9.4 internationalization strategies of the cluster firms analysed 167
10.1 Overview of the Castellon and Sassuolo clusters in the GVC 181
10.1 Overview (cont.d) 182
11.1 Overview of the Bergamo cluster in the GVC 195
11.2 Turnover and number of employees of the manufacturing companies 200
11.3 Integration models of the sample 203
Tables ix
11.4 An example on how to calculate variety and uniqueness in a two-s tages
value chain 204
11.5 Correlations among the indicators and the company size 205
11.6 kruskal- Wallis test results and mean of the sub-s amples of finished
products producers and not 205