Working Group 2.2

The Global Economic Crisis: Prospects for Business Clusters and Industrial Districts in Rural Areas

Convenors:
Åge Mariusen, NIFUSTEP, Oslo/Åbo Akademi University  agemariussen@yahoo.com
Seija Virkkala, University of Vaasa  seija.virkkala@uwasa.fi

WG website:
http://www.ruralsociology.eu/2009/wg2.2

Ever since Beccatinis path-breaking article in 1979, industrial districts growing out of agricultural areas has been extensively studied. The industrial districts of Emilia Romagna, California, and elsewhere which caught the attention of researchers in the late 1980s and early 1990s emerged at a time when the core of the global economy, USA, was caught in stagflation, following the oil crises of the early 1970s, and the economically devastating results of the war in Vietnam. The solution at that time was seen in indigenous, bottom up development. During the past two decades, the mainstream US and European economies have regained their momentum and this has somewhat overshadowed the diversification of rural economies. However, since 2007 the centres of the global economy have been engulfed by a deepening economic crisis. This could very well become a scenario where locally or regionally based abilities to orchestrate bottom up economic growth will again be on the agenda. If so, the competitive advantages of rural areas may again come to the forefront of attention. The working group therefore poses the question: what are the prospects for old and new business clusters and industrial districts in rural areas?

The working group looks for papers which:

1. Analyse how existing or emerging clusters of manufacturing or service industries, or other types of industrial districts are evolving in predominantly rural areas. This could for instance be in food processing, wood processing, textiles, design, mechanical or metal industries, construction, engineering, tourism, or any other services and sectors.
2. Examine the relation between these existing or emerging rural clusters/ districts and the global economic crisis.
3. Relate these emerging phenomena to the classical theory of industrial districts.
4. Highlight methods of how to support these developments, and
5. Share experiences of how policy-actors and institutions in different European countries could learn from each other and transfer good practices, models or methods supporting rural cluster development.