Costs and Prices, Corporate Competitive Strategies and Regions

Abstract

This paper makes a number of contributions to our understanding of industrial restructuring and regional adjustment. A distinction is made between restructuring and economic growth and development, with the author arguing that restructuring is more than autonomous economic change; it is a process of deliberate or planned structural reconfiguration. An analytical framework is used to understand the logic of restructuring from the vantage point of the competitive strategies of firms; how firms plan their market strategies given the nature and costs of production, market prices, and the temporal pattern of economic events. The author is also very much concerned with understanding the role of regions in restructuring, moving from the spatial impacts of restructuring through to an understanding of why regions have a significant role in shaping the design and implementation of restructuring, and then to an appreciation of the increasing status of regions in the competitive strategies of corporations. Throughout, reference is made to the experience of North America. In conclusion, however, some observations are made about the relevance of this framework to other countries.