全球生产网络视角下珠三角区域经济的战略耦合与产业升级

借助全球生产网络(GPN)理论的视角,审视了以珠三角为代表的后发地区产业发展与升级的路径。通过阐述GPN框架的理论优势和分析逻辑,明晰了战略耦合概念的4种一般机制,继而以珠三角产业发展和升级历程为例,说明了战略耦合模式如何影响区域产业经济发展的路径,当前战略耦合演变的方式和原因,及其所带来的影响。文章认为珠三角当前基本已经走出"前店后厂"模式,产业发展的格局已经发生本质性的改变,其主要原因是战略耦合的方式发生了改变,从而导致了多样化的产业升级路径和成果。文章的贡献在于提供了一个更为平衡的视角,来解析以珠三角为代表的落后地区的产业升级的动态,揭示了后发地区的产业升级是一个多尺度、多路径的过程。

Strategic Coupling and Industrial Upgrading in the Pearl River Delta: A Global Production Network Perspective

This paper uses the Global Production Network (GPN) perspective to examine the trajectories of industrial growth and upgrading in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), a typical late-coming but globalizing region in China. By interpreting the theoretical merit and analytical logic of GPN, this paper clarifies four basic mechanisms of strategic coupling, and then explains the industrial dynamics in the PRD through tracing the evolution, progress, and problems of strategic coupling. It finds that the PRD has been moving away from the “front shop back factory” model to become more articulated into global production networks through various modes. Meanwhile, industrial upgrading has been achieved in terms of improving efficiency and deepening regional industrial structures. We argue that such restructuring has resulted from the region’s changing modes of strategic coupling, which are simultaneously reshaped by the changes in global network dynamics and territorial dynamics. Enhancing regional production capability and changing market imperatives are both contributing factors that sustain the upgrading of local firms. We hope this GPN perspective will enable fresh insights for future geographical studies of industrial transformation in China.