Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Institutions and procedures for cooperation between various partners have to be
developed. This applies not only to companies and their partners from the edu-
cational and research sector, this task concerns much more ''agents'' of regional
development: the financial institutions, the various chambers of commerce and the
local as well as regional government. They all contribute their share to enable the
region,
the
companies,
and
their
employees
to
achieve
a
high
level
of
competitiveness.
The degree to which governments at all levels are interfering in the economic
processes may differ from country to country. But whatever impact is maintained,
the role of governments is very important. They set the frame for and encourage
promising activities, they have to be concerned with attractive living conditions
and they are instrumental in guaranteeing the sound and stable prerequisites that
economic activities need for success.
In conclusion, regional competitiveness does not only refer to the environment a
territory offers to the individual enterprises located within this certain spatial entity.
Rather, processes of collective learning and socialized growth of knowledge play a
crucial role for regional competitiveness. Important factors are the conditions and
processes of knowledge accumulation and the development of interpretative codes,
as well as models of cooperation and decision-making on which the innovative
progress of local companies is based. Competitiveness is created through:
• Specific advantages strategically created by single firms.
• Territorial synergies and cooperation capability enhanced by an imaginative and
pro-active public administration.
• Externalities provided by local and national governments.
• The specificities historically built by a territorial culture (Camagni
2003
).
At this point it is appropriate to conclude by quoting one of the most prominent
researchers in this area, Michael E. Porter, who keeps on communicating that
'' (…) the enduring competitive advantages in a global economy lie increasingly in local
things--knowledge, relationships, motivation--that distant rivals cannot match'' (Porter
1998
, p. 78).
3 Theories of Regional Development: The Cluster Concept
Several approaches exist to explain the development of economic activity in
regions (Fuerst
2001
). Whereas the concept of ''Innovative Milieus'' (Frommhold-
Eisebith
1999
) lays its focus on the meaning of networks based on common
cultures, the concept of ''Learning Regions'' (Johnson & Lundvall
1994
) con-
centrates on the meaning of knowledge and learning, along side the ideas of
networking and implementation. An even more holistic approach to regional
development strategies offers the concept of cluster development. In the following,
we will present main features of the cluster concept in order to describe in some
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