THE DELOCALIZATION OF CLUSTERING FIRMS UNDER THE PRODUCTION PARADIGM REFORM
ZHU Hua-you1, WANG Ji-ci2, WU Zhi-qiang3
1. College of Economics and Management, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China;
2. College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China;
3. College of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China
Abstract With the combined actions of globalization and localization, the delocalization of economic activities got more and more attentions. It was not only the spatial process that the phenomenon of industrial transfer happened in complete or partial productive process, but also functional integration that supple chains in firms separated from and reconfigured within different spatial scale. However, different from the concepts of industrial transfer, the concept of delocalization emphasized that the firms in clusters separated from the local productive network for some effects, and further affected on local production network. Currently, existing researches have showed two phenomena. First, most of related studies focused on Europe and American countries, but a few related studies in China, which disagreed with the actual local economic and social development in China. In recent years, driven by the orders from lead traders and brand owners, firms in China coastal areas separated from original clusters (was called delocalization) to reconstitute new clusters in new places (was called relocalization) or integrated themselves in the trend of industrial transfer. Second, the related studies focused on labor intensive industries. Therefore, the studies about delocalization had theoretical important and practical value for clusters in China costal areas. Within that context, the paper firstly established theoretical frameworks of production paradigm reform, organization synergy and delocalization. Secondly, it put forward the theoretical assumption of clustering firms' delocalization. Then, it took Dongguan footwear industrial clusters and HuaHong Footwear Companies as cases to test hypotheses. Finally, it provided theoretical foundations for local governments to make better policies about cluster and industrial transfer.
2014, Vol. 29 
