Innovation in Local Economies Germany in Comparative Context

by Crouch, Colin; Voelzkow, Helmut

• ISBN13: 9780199551170
• ISBN10: 0199551170
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-06-02
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The study of varieties of capitalism is moving on from the analysis of static national types to embrace local and sectoral diversity and the study of systems in the process of major change. This volume addresses the issue by examining four localised sectors, comparing a German case with one in another European country. The general changes taking place in Germany itself and the other countries (Hungary, Sweden, and the UK) form the context of the studies. The case studies concern: * Furniture making in North-Rhine Westphalia and southern Sweden, * Automotive manufacture in east Germany and northern Hungary, * Biotechnology around Munich and Cambridge, * TV programme and film-making in Cologne and central London. The studies find a complex pattern of conformity with, and deviation from, national types, but only occasional examples of where divergence takes the form of a direct confrontation with a national model. This is partly because national models are themselves changing; partly because they are often capable of accommodating more diversity than is often assumed by national studies; and partly because firms are increasingly able to reach outside their national boundaries for institutional resources.

Author Biography

Professor Colin Crouch is chair of the Institute of Governance and Public Management at the Business School of Warwick University. He is also the External Scientific member of the Max-Planck-Institute for the Study of Societies at Cologne. He previously taught sociology at the LSE, and was fellow and tutor in politics at Trinity College, Oxford, and professor of sociology at the University of Oxford. Until December 2004 he was professor of sociology at the European University Institute, Florence. He is a Fellow of the British Academy. Helmut Voelzkow is Professor for the International Comparison of Societies at the University of Osnabruck.

Table of Contents

Introduction

The German National Model in a State of Flux

Sweden, Hungary and the UK as Cases of Changing Capitalism

Furniture-Making in Southern Sweden and in Northern North-Rhine-Westphalia

Motor Manufacture in Zwickau and Gyor

Film-Making in Cologne and London

Bio-Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge and Munich

Colin Crouch and Helmut Voelzkow

Conclusions

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