Indigenous lead firms in rural regions: geography of global production networks revisited

0544508 - NHÚ 2022 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Srholec, Martin - Žížalová, Pavla - Horák, P.
Indigenous lead firms in rural regions: geography of global production networks revisited.
Economics of Innovation and New Technology. Roč. 30, č. 3 (2021), s. 221-238. ISSN 1043-8599. E-ISSN 1476-8364
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA17-09628S
Institutional support: RVO:67985998
Keywords : agglomeration economies * global production network * lead firm
OECD category: Applied Economics, Econometrics
Impact factor: 2.213, year: 2021
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://doi.org/10.1080/10438599.2019.1689565

This paper examines regional distribution of indigenous lead firms in global production networks (GPNs). The paper triangulates unique evidence at the firm-level from a large innovation survey, extensive field interviews and detailed case studies in Czechia. The results indicate that lead firms are not predominantly urban species, as often assumed in the literature, but tend to be located to a surprisingly high extent in rural areas. Nevertheless, rural lead firms differ significantly from the urban ones in many respects. Urban regions turn out to be a seedbed for young, ambitious, close to the market and networked lead firms in new industries, which conforms to typical urbanization economics in action, whereas rural regions tend to harbor mature, established and relatively self-reliant lead firms with strong technical know-how in traditional industries, which build on location-specific resources and traditions. The results call for a more nuanced view on the coupling between GPNs and location advantages and more granular take on the regional dimension of innovation policy.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0321349