China’s consumer-goods manufacturing clusters, with reference to Wenzhou footwear cluster

Abstract

SummaryThis paper provides a pilot study of the development of consumer-goods manufacturing cluster in China and is divided into five sections. The first section introduces the contribution of ‘made-in-China’ to the global economy. In the second the context of the theory of agglomeration and cluster are briefly reviewed. Subsequently the paper draws a general picture of the development of China’s consumer-goods manufacturing clusters and illustrates these in two representative provinces – Zhejiang and Guangdong – in the third section. The fourth section analyses the case of Wenzhou footwear industrial cluster in detail. Finally the paper discusses some problems facing Chinese consumer-goods manufacturing clusters and calls attention to their need for innovation and upgrade.