地方生产网络空间结构演化过程与机制研究——以潮汕纺织服装行业为例

采用社会调查法,借助社会网络分析软件,运用演化经济地理学核心概念,对中国潮汕地区的纺织服装生产网络进行了案例研究。结果表明:①改革开放后,潮汕地方生产网络内部空间结构不断演变,从多点集聚向多个孤立集群网络演进,再向跨集群地方网络发展;②网络演化本质上是企业关系的变化,企业间关系是在外部环境作用下企业根据自身能力做出的战略选择,地理临近与路径依赖使潮汕集群网络结构得以保持(即"遗传"),企业创新需求作用下的路径创新推动了集群间联系的发展(即"变异");③生产网络演化机理的研究还应加强对路径创新与地方产业升级的研究。

Spatial Structure Evolutionary Process and Mechanisms of Local Production Networks: A Case Study of Chaoshan Region in Southeast China

Economic geographers have recently attempted to develop relational and evolutionary economic geographies.Production networks and network evolution are both popular in economic geographies.Local production network is a valuable tool by which we can have a better understanding of the global-local interaction.Now the research on local production networks is moving from relatively static analysis to historical and dynamic process study.But there is little writing about the evolution of local production network in the context of China.This article tries to full this gap and takes textile and apparel industry in Chaoshan Region as a case to explore the processes and dynamics of production networks in the context of China’s transition to market-oriented economy.Here social interview is employed as a research method,based on the Ucinet software data.The result indicates that the internal structure of production networks in Chaoshan’s textile and apparel industry has changed from the geographical concentration of enterprises to multi-clusters networks and then to cross-clusters production networks.This change can be well explained by the basic concepts of Evolutionary Economic Geography such as selection,retention,variation and path dependence and path creation.Network evolution is in nature relational evolution between enterprises which were influenced by external environments and different development phases.Some mechanisms including geographical proximity of spin-offs,aggregation economy of enterprise in related industries and relational dependence together make the whole local production network be relatively stable structure of the internal network,which can be called"retention".However,market and institutional innovation and path destruction induce structural change,leading to the gradual formation of cross-clusters production networks,which can be called"variation".Finally,this article strongly argues that the evolutionary thinking is helpful in explaining the evolution of local production networks and the evolutionary study of local production networks would offer insightful suggestions for policy-makers.Interaction of cross-border production networks and institutional innovation would be the important research topics of network evolution in the near future.