The Associational Economy: Firms, Regions, and Innovation
Philip Cooke and Kevin Morgan
Abstract
This book explores important issues of corporate reorganization in the context of heightened global competition. Its special focus is upon how firms associate with regional milieux. Innovation is a key factor in corporate and regional economic performance and the book shows how interactive innovation based on collective learning and associative practices are becoming increasingly significant. In-depth studies of inter-firm and firm-agency interactions are presented for four European regions: Baden-Württemberg and Emilia-Romagna as accomplished regional economies; Wales and the Basque Country a ... More
This book explores important issues of corporate reorganization in the context of heightened global competition. Its special focus is upon how firms associate with regional milieux. Innovation is a key factor in corporate and regional economic performance and the book shows how interactive innovation based on collective learning and associative practices are becoming increasingly significant. In-depth studies of inter-firm and firm-agency interactions are presented for four European regions: Baden-Württemberg and Emilia-Romagna as accomplished regional economies; Wales and the Basque Country as learning regions. The book is theoretically informed by an evolutionary economics perspective and draws policy conclusions which emphasize the importance of decentralized industrial policy in support of both corporate and regional economic development ambitions. It concludes that the associational economy may be the ‘third way’ between state and market co-ordination of modern economies.
Keywords:
corporate reorganization,
global competition,
regional milleux,
interactive innovation,
Wales,
Basque Country,
decentralized industrial policy
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 1998 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780198290186 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: October 2011 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198290186.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Philip Cooke, author
University of Wales, Cardiff
Kevin Morgan, author
University of Wales, Cardiff
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