The Emergence of Clusters in Societal Transition
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Hochschulschriftenserver - Universität Frankfurt am Main The Emergence of Clusters in Societal Transition A Coevolutionary Perspective on the TCM Cluster at Tonghua/China Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Philosophie Vorgelegt beim Fachbereich Geowissenschaften/Geographie der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt am Main von Zhigao Liu aus Jiangling County/Jiangzhou City Hubei Province/China Frankfurt/Main 2009 vom Fachbereich Geowissenschaften/Geographie der Johann Wolfgang Goethe - Universität als Dissertation angenommen. Dekan: Prof. Dr. Dr. hc. Gerhard Brey 1. Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Eike W. Schamp 2. Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Christian Berndt Tag der Disputation: 22. April 2009 II In Memory of My Dearest Father (10.1950-4.2007) who lives in my heart for good. I Acknowledgement Too little space here, too many distinguished academics, mentors, friends and family members to thank! The most important one to whom I am particularly indebted is my principal PhD supervisor, Prof. Dr. Eike W. Schamp at Frankfurt University. I thank Prof. Schamp so much for all the enthusiasm, support, advice, patience and for having read my writing probably as many times as I have. I have been privileged to access his enormous knowledge on industrial clusters and the evolutionary approach. The regular and stimulating meetings with him over the whole course of my Ph.D study have indeed enhanced my understanding of the evolution of industrial clusters in the contexts of transitional countries and hopefully my academic thinking! At the same time, his goodwill, humor and extraordinary wisdom have always encouraged me to overcome various difficulties when I stayed in foreign environments. Prof. Schamp has greatly inspired me in my endeavour, influenced it and shaped it. Special thanks to Prof. Wang Jici at Peking University in China. It was Prof. Wang who opened up a window for my study in Europe since she whole heartedly recommended me to Prof. Schamp when I applied for overseas studies in 2004, which provided me with a wonderful opportunity to enhance my academic capabilities. During my doctoral studies, I constantly got enlightened guidance from her mostly by emails or discussion on the online forum of the website of China’s industry cluster (www. clusterstudy.com) which was launched by her, other Chinese scholars and me in May, 2003. Her unparalleled knowledge of China’s industrial clusters provided me with one of main thought sources for my empirical exploration in the context of China. Amongst the other Chinese scholars who contributed significantly to my understanding of evolutionary economics, I thank especially Prof. Jia Gengliang at Renming University in China who is very familiar with heterodox economics, and evolutionary economics in particular. He tutored me in evolutionary economics at the beginning of my study on this approach in 2004, and tirelessly gave me advice mostly by emails and personal meetings in China. Similarly, the discussion with Prof. Yang Hutao at Zhongnan University of Economics & Law was beneficial. Prof. Yang Hutao was ever a visiting scholar at the business school of the University of Hertfordshire where Prof. Geoffrey M. Hodgson works. Many thanks also to all the interviewees in Jiling province for kindly sharing their inspiring stories in creating success of the Tonghua traditional Chinese medicine industry and/or their insights on the TCM industry. Without their open, candid and crucial information input, this thesis would not have been possible. I would especially like to thank Prof. Cui Yuechun at Jilin Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, Prof. Yi Baozhong at Jilin University and Prof. Wang Liqun at Tonghua Normal College for their intellectual input and assistance in organizing fieldwork. I appreciate especially three other local coordinators, Jiang Zhijun, Zhang Zhenyou, Han Tiehan, who all are local government officials, for nice accommodation and enabling access to information about these stories of Tonghua pharmaceutical enterprises. I am particularly indebted to three pharmaceutical experts, Qu Lianqin, Wang Gaojun and Yi Changdun. They have guided me into the mysteries of the sector and provided me with much knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry, which nourished a lot my empirical study. I greatly benefited from the friendship and sharing materials of the pharmaceutical industry from my field survey partners, Zhao Yuanliang and Ming Li, both were Ph.D students at that time. II I gratefully acknowledge very useful comments, suggestions, and research notes on my early, immature versions of this work, which substantially improved the paper, from Prof. Ron Martin, Prof. Philip Cooke, Prof. Ron Boschma, Prof. Koen Frenken, Prof. Harald Bathelt, Prof.Thomas Brenner, Prof.Johannes Glueckler Prof. Martina Fuchs, Prof.Eric Brousseau, Prof. Henry Wai-chung Yeung, and Prof. Yehua Dennis Wei and Dr. Peter Essletzbichler. My German colleagues in Frankfurt am Main who were so friendly in answering my various cries for help have provided a stimulating and very friendly atmosphere in which to do challenging research, in particular Yvonne Zajontz, Michael Handke, Dr. Sabine Dörry, Ms. Dorothy Hauzar. Without such warmhearted friends and colleagues, my investigations would have been much more difficult and less exciting. Heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the thesis oral examination committee members for critical feedback. In particular I would like to thank my second PhD supervisor, Prof. Dr. Christian Berndt for kind encouragement, critical feedback and inspiration. Here I would like to give so many thanks to Ms. Doris Fassbender who gave me homely warmth and let me enjoy traveling to exotic places during my staying in Germany. I express my appreciation to the research grants from Chinese University of Geosciences (Wuhan), through the projects, “Eco-Industrial Cluster Development Strategy” (Contract No.2004A0017) by the Open Fund of the resources and the environment Economic Research Center of CUG., “Reflection on Western evolution of economic geography” (CUGQNW0703) by the Research Foundation for Outstanding Young Teachers. Last but not least, I would like to especially thank my family for their selfless support, both financially and spiritually, which allowed me to devote myself to the need of my curiosity over the years. I do really owe the parents and my sister a lot, especially my affectionate father who sadly left us during the second year of my doctoral program, at the end of April, 2007. Likewise, without my dearly beloved wife’s many years of support and encouragement, I couldn’t have finished this study at all. She assumed all duties of taking care of our extended family over the past years, which made me never feel any need of taking trivial housework and affliction of realistic life into consideration. In addition, because of being also a researcher in the field of economic geography, my wife, Dr. Yin Yimei gave me a great deal of fierce criticism and sound advice. I am so lucky to have such a loving family. III Contents Acknowledgement ...................................................................................................................................................II Contents......................................................................................................................................................................IV List of Tables............................................................................................................................................................VII Chapter 1 Introduction ...........................................................................................................................................1 1.1 Research Background............................................................................................................. 1 1.1.1 Industrial Clusters and China’s Economic Growth.......................................................... 1 1.1.2 The Theoretical Puzzle Relevant to Cluster Emergence.................................................. 5 1.1.3 Review on Evolutionary Economic Geography and Coevolutionary Study.................... 9 1.2 Research Questions .............................................................................................................. 13 1.2.1 Uncover ‘How History Matters’.................................................................................... 13 1.2.2 The Coevolutionary Process at Industrial Cluster Level ............................................... 15 1.3 Why Coevolution of Firms, Institution and Technology ...................................................... 17 1.3.1 Why Firm....................................................................................................................... 18 1.3.2 Why Institution and Technology.................................................................................... 19 1.3.3Why Pharmaceutical Industry......................................................................................... 22 1.4 Structure of the Dissertation ................................................................................................. 24 Chapter 2 The Theoretical Base for Coevolution in Industrial Clusters.........................................26 2.1 Making a Place for History in (Evolutionary) Economic Geography .................................. 26 2.1.1 The “Historical Turn” in Social Science.......................................................................