Ola Jonsson
Universitetslektor
Getting out of the black hole. Plant closures and local business renewal
Författare
Summary, in English
Abstract in Undetermined
A more or less continuous process of structural change, not least due to a globalizing economy, poses a number of challenges to regions and local communities. However, when firms or whole industries are phasing out, windows of opportunity open up. Empirical analyses of a recent plant closure in the periphery of the Skane Region in Sweden point at the importance of retaining existing knowledge base, and at the same time find innovative directions in upgrading and exploiting this knowledge. In this process the paper also high-lights the ways different actors in private business as well as in public sector collaborate and jointly formulate strategies to vitalize the region´s business. Especially strategies for non-core regions to find new routes of development after being subjected to “crisis” are discussed. Based in a case study of the closure of Scania Transmission in the North East of Skane, the opportunities and challenges in related diversification as local strategy are analyzed.
Key words: structural change, vitalizing strategies, related diversification
A more or less continuous process of structural change, not least due to a globalizing economy, poses a number of challenges to regions and local communities. However, when firms or whole industries are phasing out, windows of opportunity open up. Empirical analyses of a recent plant closure in the periphery of the Skane Region in Sweden point at the importance of retaining existing knowledge base, and at the same time find innovative directions in upgrading and exploiting this knowledge. In this process the paper also high-lights the ways different actors in private business as well as in public sector collaborate and jointly formulate strategies to vitalize the region´s business. Especially strategies for non-core regions to find new routes of development after being subjected to “crisis” are discussed. Based in a case study of the closure of Scania Transmission in the North East of Skane, the opportunities and challenges in related diversification as local strategy are analyzed.
Key words: structural change, vitalizing strategies, related diversification
Avdelning/ar
- Institutionen för kulturgeografi och ekonomisk geografi
Publiceringsår
2011
Språk
Engelska
Dokumenttyp
Konferensbidrag
Ämne
- Human Geography
Conference name
6th International Seminar on Regional Innovation Policies; Constructing Sustainable Advantage for European Regions
Conference date
2011-10-13
Conference place
Lund University, Sweden
Aktiv
Unpublished