Geographie Economie Societe最新文献

This paper focuses the relationship between immigration and regional development potential, taking as a reference the labour market functions and the regional settlement patterns of the most recent immigration wave that arrived in Portugal. This immigration wave is mainly composed by eastern europeans, particularly ukrainians, russians, moldavians and romanians, and displays several novel features when compared to the previous non-EU immigration wave dominated by foreigners coming from the portuguese speaking countries of Africa and Brazil (also relevant in the most recent wave). These novel features correspond to a higher level of education and training and also to a higher level of geographical spreading by the portuguese regions. The analysis of this new geographical pattern, that leads the entire country to participate in the immigration process, is related to the dynamics of the local economic fabrics, the segmented needs of the corresponding regional labour market basins, the competitivity strategies developed by the entrepreneurial structures and also to other variables associated to the regional development processes. The article is structured in 3 parts. The first one sets the scenery for the analysis and provides an overview of the regional development trajectories (convergence vs divergence) both of Portugal and the Portuguese regions in the late 1980s and the 1990s. The second one relates the contemporary regional patterns of international immigration with the socio-economic features and development dynamics of the several portuguese regions. The third part corresponds to the conclusion and stresses the potentially positive effects associated to the presence of the “new immigrants” in the non-metropolitan regions (qualifications increase associated to eventual innovation processes, stimulus over regional demand, opening up of new social and economic contacts). However, it also mentions that the present incorporation strategies of these frequently over-qualified workers is contributing to sustain defensive entrepreneurial options based in low-salaries and in a low level of innovation that do not foster the necessary qualification process of the Portuguese enterprises.

The cultural industries have been object of a growing interest in the last years. This paper attempts to look at the present situation of cultural industries in the Lisbon metropolitan area (AML), as well as to the main trends of its evolution during the 1990s.

Two main conclusions emerged from the analysis made. Firstly, we concluded that cultural industries are steadily increasing, showing growing rates above the AML average. Secondly, a high degree of spatial concentration of activities and jobs could also be observed, havingas its main focus the municipality of Lisbon. In spite of the pattern shaped by the location of cultural industries, one of the most important trends detected has been the deconcentration of activities, with the development of different specialisations in peripheral areas. Their implications on the urban policies are analysed in the last section of the paper.

This paper tries to conceptualise the role of inward investment to the regional development process. The stereotype of the plundering of regional resources by foreign capital seems, in many cases, to belong to the past. Major firms, such as the transnationals, tend to emulate some organisational models characteristic to SME, thus establishing strong linkages with regional firms and local institutions. The study of the automobile cluster polarised by Autoeuropa (a VW plant) and its value chain allowed stressing the technological and organisational innovation in the Autoeuropa suppliers as a result of collaboration and co-operation forms of relation in the network. Among the most stimulating conclusions, one may highlight the existence of relevant forms of trade and untraded interdependencies between Autoeuropa and a restricted group of suppliers, which contradict the “cathedral in the desert” stereotype and confirm a new type of relation between inward investment and the regional development process.

Improving entrepreneurship is a decisive factor in the development of rural areas. This statement is particularly important for those who recognize the limitations of both the productivist and the consumerist-heritage approaches to achieve sustainable development in rural areas. This article looks at entrepreneurial capability on 2 complementary levels. Having defined a typology of Portuguese rural areas, which is used to establish current patterns of entrepreneurial initiative, it then puts forward and interprets the results of field work on the practices and representations relating to business activity as it is carried on in 2 contrasting rural areas: Bombarral/Cadaval (a rural area close to urban areas) and the Left Bank of the Guadiana river (a marginal rural area). Our results lead us to question the suitability, for less-developed rural areas, of policies based on a range of analytical frameworks which have had a significant impact on territorial studies over the last twenty years (territorialized clusters, regional innovation systems, innovative milieus, etc.). This in turn suggests a need to move the central focus, particularly in this type of rural area, onto the question of how personal, social and institutional capabilities are developed, to the processes of collective learning and to the reflexive practices of local communities.

This article deals with the process of conversion of Montreal to the Knowledge economy. The transition is characterized by the increasing importance of firms of the high technology sector, essentially biopharmaceutical, aeronautics and telecom firms. On the basis of a survey of 80 firms, the article analyses the role of proximity and of the local dimension in the process of conversion. The analysis is based on indicators such as factors of location, productive integration, the effect of proximity on the innovative potential, the local market, and the partnership with local organizations. The article shows that the level of analysis appropriate to understand the territorial dimension of the conversion of Montreal is the metropolitan level. Montreal appears to be based on a combination of local productive networks intertwined at the metropolitan level.