The Third China? Emerging industrial districts in rural China

Authors: Christerson B.¹; Lever-Tracy C.²

Source: International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Volume 21, Number 4, December 1997 , pp. 569-588(20)

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Abstract:

While the growth of postfordist industrial districts in certain locations in the developed world has been well documented, the impact of the shift toward flexible production in the so-called third world has received less attention. This paper is an attempt to incorporate the dynamic, networked, manufacturing family firms in parts of China into the flexible industrial district debate. We argue that dense networks of small firms emerging in rural China in many ways resemble the industrial districts of the `Third Italy' and elsewhere: they are globally competitive in producing for fast-changing fashionable market niches, they contain networks of relatively autonomous small firms which are at least partially locally owned and managed and which often take part in high-value activities such as design and marketing. We suggest that the social embeddedness of investment and production linkages with ethnic Chinese firms in Hong Kong and Taiwan may be an effective substitute for the spatial concentration of suppliers, producers, designers, and final markets, which is recognized as an important source of innovation and flexibility in core industrial districts.

Alors que la croissance des regions industrielles post-fordistes dans certaines parties du monde developpe a ete bien documentee, l'effet du changement vers la production flexible dans le soi-disant troisieme monde a recu moins d'attention. Cet article tente d'incorporer le reseau d'entreprises industrielles familiales dynamiques de certaines regions de la Chine dans le debat sur les regions industrielles flexibles. Nous pensons que ces denses reseaux de petites entreprises emergeant en Chine rurale ressemblent sous bien des rapports aux regions industrielles de la `Troisieme Italie' et d'ailleurs: ils sont competitifs globalement en ce que leur production est pour des niches de marche a la mode qui changent rapidement, ils contiennent des reseaux de petites entreprises relativement autonomes dont les proprietaires et managers sont, au moins en partie, locaux, et qui participent souvent a des activites de valeur elevee comme le design et le marketing. Nous suggerons que l'engagement social de l'investissement et des liens de production avec les entreprises ethniques chinoises de Hong Kong et Taiiwan peuvent fournir un remplacement efficace a la concentration spatiale des fournisseurs, producteurs, et marches terminaux, qui est reconnue comme une source importante d'innovation et de flexibilite dans les regions industrielles centrales.

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Sociology, Biola University, USA 2: Department of Sociology, Flinders University of South Australia

Publication date: 1997-12-01

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• In this Subject: Urban Studies
• By this author: Christerson B. ;  Lever-Tracy C.

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