Critical reflections on regional competitiveness : theory, policy and practice

199 Pages·2010·1.106 MB·English

by  Bristow, Gillian

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Critical Re ections on Regional
Competitiveness
Since the early 1990s, governments and development agencies have become
increasinglypreoccupiedwiththepursuitofregionalcompetitiveness.However,
there is considerable confusion around what exactly regional competitiveness
means, how it might be achieved, whether and how it can be measured, and
whether it is a meaningful and appropriate goal for regional economies. The
central aim ofthisbook isto providea comprehensiveand critical account of
these debates with reference to theory, policy and practice, and thus to
explore the meaning and value of the concept of regional competitiveness.
The book is structured into three parts. Part I introduces the concept of
regional competitiveness by tracing its origins and exploring its different
meanings in regional economic development. This will critically engage with
political economy approaches to understanding the nature and dominance of
the competitiveness discourse. Part II interrogates the pursuit of regional
competitiveness in policy and practice. This critically evaluates the degree to
which the pursuit of competitiveness is encouraging convergence in policy
agendas in regions through an examination of key determinants of policy
sameness and difference, notably benchmarking and devolved governance.
Part III explores the limitations to regional competitiveness and explores
whether and how its predominance in the policy discourse might be chal-
lenged by alternative agendas such as sustainable development andwellbeing.
This focuses on the developing qualitative characterof regional development.
This volume critically engages with the theory and policy of regional com-
petitiveness, thus providing the first integrated critique of the concept for
undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as academics interested in
regional development and policy. It will unpack the concept of regional com-
petitivenessandexplainitsusefulness,limitationsandpolicyappeal,aswellas
examining its sustainability in the light of evolving governance structures and
the imperatives of broadening regional development agendas.
Gillian BristowisaReaderinEconomicGeographyintheSchoolofCityand
RegionalPlanning,CardiffUniversity.Herresearchinterestsfocusonregional
economicdevelopment,governanceandpolicy.Thisbookdevelopsherseminal
critique of regional competitiveness published in the Journal of Economic
Geography in 2005.
Routledge Studies in Human Geography
This series provides a forum for innovative, vibrant, and critical debate within Human
Geography.Titleswillreflectthewealthofresearchwhichistakingplaceinthisdiverseand
ever-expandingfield.
Contributionswill be drawn from the main sub-disciplines and from innovative areas of
workwhichhavenoparticularsub-disciplinaryallegiances.
Published:
1 AGeographyofIslands 8 PovertyandtheThirdWay
Smallislandinsularity ColinC.Williamsand
StephenA.Royle JanWindebank
2 Citizenships,Contingencyand 9 AgeingandPlace
theCountryside EditedbyGavinJ.Andrewsand
Rights,culture,landand DavidR.Phillips
theenvironment
GavinParker 10 GeographiesofCommodityChains
EditedbyAlexHughesand
3 TheDifferentiatedCountryside SuzanneReimer
JonathanMurdoch,PhilipLowe,
NeilWardandTerryMarsden 11 QueeringTourism
Paradoxicalperformancesat
4 TheHumanGeographyofEast gayprideparades
CentralEurope LyndaT.Johnston
DavidTurnock
12 Cross-ContinentalFoodChains
5 ImaginedRegionalCommunities EditedbyNielsFoldandBillPritchard
Integrationandsovereigntyinthe
globalsouth 13 PrivateCities
JamesDSidaway EditedbyGeorgGlasze,ChrisWebster
andKlausFrantz
6 MappingModernities
GeographiesofCentralandEastern 14 GlobalGeographiesofPost
Europe1920–2000 SocialistTransition
AlanDingsdale TassiloHerrschel
7 RuralPoverty 15 UrbanDevelopmentin
Marginalisationandexclusionin Post-ReformChina
BritainandtheUnitedStates FulongWu,JiangXuand
PaulMilbourne AnthonyGar-OnYeh
16 RuralGovernance 24 SensingCities
Internationalperspectives MonicaDegen
EditedbyLyndaCheshire,
VaughanHigginsand 25 InternationalMigration
GeoffreyLawrence andKnowledge
AllanWilliamsand
17 GlobalPerspectivesonRural VladimirBaláž
ChildhoodandYouth
Youngrurallives 26 TheSpatialTurn
EditedbyRuthPanelli, Interdisciplinaryperspectives
SamanthaPunch,and BarneyWarfandSantaArias
ElsbethRobson
27 WhoseUrbanRenaissance?
18 WorldCitySyndrome Aninternationalcomparison
Neoliberalismandinequality ofurbanregenerationpolicies
inCapeTown LibbyPorterandKatieShaw
DavidA.McDonald
28 RethinkingMaps
19 ExploringPostDevelopment MartinDodge,RobKitchinand
AramZiai ChrisPerkins
20 FamilyFarms 29 Rural–UrbanDynamics
HaroldBrookfieldandHelenParsons Livelihoods,mobilityand
marketsinAfricanand
21 ChinaontheMove Asianfrontiers
Migration,thestate,and JytteAgergaard,NielsFoldand
thehousehold KatherineV.Gough
C.CindyFan
30 SpacesofVernacularCreativity
22 ParticipatoryActionResearch Rethinkingthecultural
ApproachesandMethods economy
Connectingpeople,participation TimEdensor,DeborahLeslie,
andplace SteveMillingtonand
SaraKindon,RachelPainand NormaRantisi
MikeKesby
31 CriticalReflectionsonRegional
23 Time-SpaceCompression Competitiveness
Historicalgeographies Theory,policyandpractice
BarneyWarf GillianBristow
Notyetpublished:
32 GovernanceandPlanningof 33 DesignEconomiesandtheChanging
Mega-CityRegions WorldEconomy
AnthonyYehandJiangXu Innovation,productionand
competitiveness
JohnBrysonandGreteRustin

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Critical Re ections on
Regional Competitiveness
Theory, policy and practice
Gillian Bristow
Firstpublished2010
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
byRoutledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010.
To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
©2010GillianBristow
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor
utilizedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,now
knownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orin
anyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwriting
fromthepublishers.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Bristow,Gillian.
Criticalreflectionsonregionalcompetitiveness:theory,policyand
practice/GillianBristow.
p.cm.–(Routledgestudiesinhumangeography;31)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1.Regionaleconomics.2.Competition.3.Regionalplanning.I.Title.
HT388.B752009
338.900917–dc22
2009021463
ISBN 0-203-86540-5 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN13978-0-415-47159-6(hbk)
ISBN13978-0-203-86540-8(ebk)
ISBN100-415-47159-1(hbk)
ISBN100-203-86540-5(ebk)
Contents
List of illustrations ix
Preface x
Acknowledgements xi
Abbreviations xii
PARTI
The discourse of regional competitiveness 1
Introduction: neoliberalism and the regional competitiveness
hegemony 3
1 What is regional competitiveness? 13
2 The political economyof regional competitiveness 27
PARTII
Regional competitiveness in policy and practice 47
3 Competitiveness and the ‘one-size-fits-all’regional policy
consensus 49
4 Performance indicators and rankings: deconstructing
competitiveness league tables 68
5 Resisting or restating competitiveness? Variation,
recontextualization and the role of the regional state 95
viii Contents
PARTIII
Moving beyond competitiveness 119
6 The limits to competitiveness 121
7 Resilient regions: re‘place’-ing regional competitiveness 139
Conclusions 156
Notes 159
Bibliography 160
Index of authors 176
Index of subjects 179
Illustrations
Tables
4.1 Existing indices of regional competitiveness 73
4.2 Dimensions covered by sample of regional composite indices 81
4.3 UK Regional Competitiveness Index 2008 (UK = 100) 87
Box
3.1 Regional competitiveness strategies: some international examples 56