Small Players in Big Markets: The Politics of Small Firm Competitiveness in Multilevel Governance

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Small Players in Big Markets: The Politics of Small Firm Competitiveness in Multilevel Governance

Regional economic integration has dramatically changed the organisation of production in European states, a phenomenon intensely felt in sectors of small firms. These make a key part of the economy and social fabric of the European Union. According to the European Commission, they represent 99% of all enterprises in Europe, and account for around two thirds of European GDP, providing 75 million jobs.

Increased economic competition associated with European integration has dramatically changed the organisation of production not only in the case of traditional sectors of SMEs, which are usually assumed to be declining, but also in emerging high technology industries, and is affecting the social and economic fabric of EU nations. Industries appear caught between national institutions and the comparative institutional advantage they may confer, and increasingly supranational regulatory regimes and internationally-driven adjustment.

Yet the scientific literatures on globalization and governance do not offer an interdisciplinary and inclusive approach to the study of the institutions and politics that influence the competitiveness of traditional economic sectors in this context. This research programme aims to contribute to fill this gap.

The central question guiding will be: What are the institutional and political mechanisms that allow firms, especially in the case of sectors made of large numbers of firms without great resource capability, to use different layers of governance so as to gain competitiveness?

Estatuto:

Entidade proponente

Financiado:

Não

Keywords:

Globalisation/Governance;Politics of Innovation and Competitiveness;Varieties of Capitalism;

Objectivos:

The goal of this research project is to investigate how actors that are not naturally endowed with strong political resources can gain competitiveness in the context of multilevel governance. The first major task will be to draw on the analytical tools developed in political science, public policy, business studies, and sociology, so as to identify how different organizational and regulatory mechanisms contribute to influence coordination among large numbers of firms in small sectors so as to induce the adoption of best production, human resources, and marketing practices. The second task will be to discuss, analyze and report on national and supranational regulatory mechanisms and "bottom-up", associative- or firm-driven approaches to industrial renewal that are conducive to high and sustained levels of competitiveness.While the development of tasks and analysis will be conducted according to the tenets of academic work, the findings of the research will target a wider audience: The ultimate goal is to provide insights on how European governments and business and political entrepreneurs can best respond to the pressures of globalization in a proactive way that pursues social and economic development with participatory democracy.

State of the art:

The research draws on two major fields in political science, namely the studies on Europeanization and the works on Varieties of Capitalism and its predecessor literature on neocorporatism. Over the past decades, political economists who have studied globalisation and governance have persuasively argued that international economic integration has produced very different responses in terms of national economic development and firm organisation and strategy. (Berger & Dore 1996; Kitschelt et al. 1999; Regini 2000; Hall & Soskice 2001). Analyses of patterns of industrial adjustment in Europe suggest that, even though supranational legislation is rapidly expanding across a vast number of different spheres of economic regulation, national patterns of business associations, relations between such interest groups and governments, and national regulatory and behavioural patterns still play a key role in shaping the responses of firms and policy-makers to the issues raised by economic integration. A more recent literature suggests that new modes of governance and processes of interplay between economic actors and policy-makers act as determinants of industrial change in a range of economic sectors. The latter include services and agriculture sectors made of low-to-medium technology SMEs without research capability, as well as high technology industries that rely on complementing their core research capabilities for strategic development. (Evans 2008; Schmidt 2008; Thatcher 2004, 2007; Hancké 2003; Hoepner 2005, 2007; Fouilleux 2006, 2008).Yet the scientific literatures on globalization and governance do not offer an interdisciplinary and inclusive approach to the study of the institutions and politics that influence the competitiveness of small players in this context. This research programme aims to contribute to fill this gap. I propose to apply the tools of provided by comparative institutional analyses to answer the following questions :What are the institutional mechanisms that allow small firms, especially in sectors that are made of large numbers of firms, to conquer obstacles to coordination and to find collective strategies that induce modernisation? What are, beyond state and market, relevant governance mechanisms, how are they linked to industrial profiles, and how do these translate into economic policy options and into industrial outputs?

Parceria:

Não Integrado

Coordenador ICS

Referência externa

PROJ17/2010

Data Inicio:

01/09/2009

Data Fim:

01/08/2012

Duração:

35 meses

Concluído