The aim of this chapter is to examine the extent to which East European Economies (EEEs) have succeeded in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) during the 1990s and to consider whether there are any lessons which can be learned from the well-developed inward investment policy of the UK and its regions. 1 A discussion of the theories of FDI and the multinational enterprise (MNE) is eschewed (for recent reviews, see Dunning 1993a and Caves 1996) and the chapter begins with a brief consideration of the locational requirements of MNEs, host country factors associated with the attraction of FDI and some specific factors pertaining to the EEEs. This is followed by an analysis, based on secondary data, of stocks of FDI in the EEEs and flows into them. The chapter concludes with a discussion of policy issues.

The coordination of inter-organisational networks is key to their success and yet partnership management in the context of regional economic development remains a complex and ambiguous process. To address this lack of understanding, this article reviews the extant literature on brokerage and network coordination and presents a theoretical framework comprising three propositions on the benefits of a private sector influence over the management and coordination of multi-organisational economic development partnerships. The propositions are then explored through a qualitative study of those tasked with the role of leading the management of Local Enterprise Partnerships in England. The findings conversely reveal a reliance on the public sector to lead the framing and mobilisation of these networks and questions whether the policy shift has resulted in truly collaborative governance.

Models of subnational governance have grown in popularity across Europe, but the notion of place-based leadership remains an ideological phenomenon. This paper explores the development of subnational partnerships in England and considers the lack of formal guidance available to local leaders that limits their ability to develop transformational strategies. Drawing on extensive qualitative analysis of England's local enterprise partnerships, the paper develops an original conceptual model of place-based partnerships. The model provides a tool for partnerships to assess themselves and consider tactics to develop a stronger set of shared local values, contributing to both academic and policy debates.

Place leadership is at a critical juncture. Since the 1990s, it has been taken for granted that for places to prosper, effective partnerships combining the interests of multiple stakeholders are essential. The leadership of place-based partnerships is crucial to their success and has accordingly received increased attention in academic and policy circles, but the notion of place leadership remains an ideological phenomenon founded on numerous case studies with few conclusions that can be generalised across wider spatial scales or beyond advanced economies. This article examines place leadership through examining England's local enterprise partnerships, in particular looking at the role of the private sector vis-a-vis the public sector. The complexity of these partnerships is explored, and the article argues for the role of collaborative leadership to address that complexity. It contributes a set of guiding principles to guide new ways for place-based working that can better embrace the private sector and engender a more collaborative leadership practice.

Traditional manufacturing firms in emerging markets such as China are increasingly facing the challenge of digital transformation for Sustained Competitive Advantage (SCA). Underpinned by the resource orchestration theory, this study posits that organisational resources (relational and technological), transformation capability, and organisational characteristics are configurational conditions for SCA. Using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), this study reveals multiple pathways – configurational resources and capabilities in sets of necessary and sufficient conditions – leading to SCA in a sample of 206 Chinese clothing manufacturing firms. Results suggest that relational resources are a necessary condition that fundamentally drives SCA; small firms can achieve SCA by combining relational resources and transformation capability, while portfolio technological resources are sufficient for large firms. For organisations with higher levels of global market engagement, both relational and portfolio technological resources are essential for achieving SCA. This study enhances understanding of the interdependence of the causal conditions (e.g., organisational resources and capability) in set relations with the outcome of SCA in different firms considering their size and level of global market engagement.

The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of rurally based Small/Medium enterprises (SMEs) adopting electric vehicle (EV) technologies as part of their transport strategies. Existing research has demonstrated significant knowledge gaps relating to the impact of EV uptake on transport costs and planning for rurally based businesses. Instead, much of the literature has focused on the challenges faced by urban users of this technology. The paper extends the academic discourse surrounding the transition of the automotive sector to a zero emissions future by focussing on socio-technical factors in technology adoption. Importantly, the paper provides a rural emphasis on such change by reporting the results of a two-year EV demonstrator trial undertaken by sixteen businesses located in rural areas of Warwickshire, England, encouraging a much need shift in policymaking awareness. An important component of the research was to examine multi-level perspectives of technology adoption for rural firms and to question whether EVs would lead to locked-in transport technology pathways. The results of this trial gave a range of important insights into the outcomes of enterprises embracing commercial EVs for personal and business transport purposes. Evidence from the participants suggests that should EVs receive significant support in terms of infrastructure enhancement and technical developments they may prove a suitable substitute for existing transport provision in their rural locales.

Cities are characterised as places of increased human capital accumulation, dynamic labour markets and faster wage growth: in short, places where workers can get ahead. Studies suggest that urban workers can benefit from faster learning and from better job matching. This article assesses the extent to which cities act as escalators for workers in low-wage jobs using panel data from Great Britain covering the period 2009–2014. When defining low pay using a standard national wage threshold, workers in London, the largest city, are significantly more likely to make a transition from low- to higher-paid employment than workers in non-urban areas. However, the use of a national wage threshold to measure progression from low pay is sensitive to geographic variations in wage levels. When using an alternative, occupation-based definition of low pay there is little to no evidence of faster wage growth in London or other large British cities, suggesting that low-paid workers do not benefit significantly from faster learning or more efficient job matching in cities. The findings, once adjusted for differences in the wage distribution, fail to identify an urban escalator effect for those in low-paid employment, suggesting that there is a fairly consistent set of underlying factors shaping progression from low pay across geographies.

This paper assesses the contemporary 'consumption' of the motor-car in the context of an increased uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) as part of a transition to a low carbon automobility. Through the lens of affect and non-representational theory, it contributes to a seemingly neglected discourse by understanding how the feelings, experiences and knowledges of drivers 'conditioned' to an internal combustion engine (ICE) ecosystem might impact such a transition. This contribution is important, given that the contemporary socio-cultural significance of the car means an effective impetus for social change will come from drivers themselves. In-depth interviews explored unlived knowledges and opinions on EVs held by motorists driving ICE vehicles, comparing these with the lived experiences of EV drivers. Key findings point to levers and potential barriers. First, EV exposure suggests prospective electric propulsion carries no further fears than those experienced on any first 'encounter' with a vehicle, indicating that although different, it is not viewed as a leap into the unknown. Second, ICE-drivers don't regard electric cars as inferior, providing they embody an ICE car's essence of freedom, flexibility and performance. Third, EV-drivers' sensations of avant garde and environmental-friendliness lack the physical nature of feelings expressed by ICE-drivers, yet suggest a new automobility. Addressing this 'affectual' divide in how manufacturers design and disseminate knowledge about EVs is crucial to broadening their appeal. More broadly, whilst technical barriers to transition endure for consumers, the feelings and experiences concomitant with existing automobilities suggest cause for optimism regarding a potential low carbon vehicle uptake.

The stream of announcements in 2017, effectively banning the production and sales of internal combustion engine vehicles within the next fifteen-twenty years, indicate how governments are seeking to regulate a mass market transition to electric vehicles. Yet despite significant policy initiatives to stimulate their uptake, EV market share remains far short of the level required to push them into the mainstream. This paper identifies a multitude of potential barriers to uptake and investigates these from the largely ignored perspective of mass market drivers of ICE vehicles in a European context. In addition it assesses the extent to which barriers are inter-related, and can be reduced down to larger explanatory 'factors'. Findings, drawn from an original survey of 26,000 motorists suggest that resistance to EV adoption is characterised by twelve barriers that can be reduced and conceptualised as 'economic uncertainty' and 'socio-technical' factors. In turn, economic uncertainty was found to be significantly associated with age and geography, whilst socio-technical issues are related to gender. Problems of EV adoption are shown to be complex and multi-faceted, not easily solved by tackling individual issues, but requiring a more holistic ecosystem approach, the key policy components of which are posited in this paper. Such analysis is significant in enriching academic discourse and informing effective strategy and policy that will facilitate the transition to EVs.

The Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) framework on transitions is used to interpret European electric vehicle take up and auto mobility transition. It finds that environmental and energy security pressures have created a favourable landscape ‘push’ for Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) that in turn has encouraged and facilitated serious commitment from some manufacturers. Yet BEVs, as a niche product seeking to disrupt an entrenched and established regime, face significant multi-level forces acting as barriers against such a transition, which the paper explores. This combination of factors creates a situation where BEV market penetration remains far below the level required for mass market transition. For BEVs to ‘cross the chasm’ and gain an established foothold in the market and hence significantly disrupt the regime, more holistic and effective solutions are required. It is argued that, so far, this has yet to be fully taken on board by policy makers.

This paper considers factors underpinning technology forcing by national policy makers in the low carbon vehicle sector. It focuses on five countries - France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK - and examines the driving imperatives for promoting alternative fuel vehicle and, in particular, electric vehicle uptake. It does so by looking at four overarching concerns for decision makers; energy security, sustainable development, impact on the existing automotive sector and the pressure from sub-national actors. The paper seeks to show that national policy in the five selected countries is heterogeneous in nature making consistent, standardised approaches to policy implementation a challenge, despite the similarity in ambition to advance instances of electromobility and to transition from conventional transport technology to alternative fuel vehicles.

Bailey D. and Berkeley N. Regional responses to recession: the role of the West Midlands Regional Taskforce, Regional Studies. Regional taskforces were set up across the English regions in late 2008 in response to the most severe recession since the Second World War. This paper examines the role of one such body, the West Midlands Regional Taskforce, as an example of regional response to recession, and offers potential lessons for the future in dealing with such situations. In so doing it reflects on the contested concept of regional ‘resilience’ and its relevance for policy actions at the regional level. Understanding how the region responded in this way could help in maintaining a ‘permanent capacity’ to deal with shocks, especially in the context of the abolition of regional development agencies (RDAs) in England from 2012 and their replacement with local enterprise partnerships (LEPs).

"Reflections on the Regional Studies Association North American Conference." Regions Magazine, 294(1), pp. 31–32

B AILEY D. and B ERKELEY N. Regional responses to recession: the role of the West Midlands Regional Taskforce, Regional Studies . Regional taskforces were set up across the English regions in late 2008 in response to the most severe recession since the Second World War. This paper examines the role of one such body, the West Midlands Regional Taskforce, as an example of regional response to recession

The resource-based view of the firm (RBV) argues that valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable resources are the source of a firm’s sustained competitive advantage (SCA); this contention has been tested in an increasing number of studies. However, the extant empirical literature emphasizes the significance of resources and capabilities (R&Cs) played and few studies focus on SCA, the other end of the RBV logic. Therefore, this study aims to address this deficiency by focusing on the measurement of SCA. Further, SCA is traditionally measured by financial performance in the empirical studies, which is not only inconsistent with the theory but also proves to be practically difficult in access to the data. However, this paper argues that process performance is more appropriate to measure SCA and this theoretical idea is examined with the survey data collected in 2011/2012 using 209 valid responses from participants in the Chinese clothing companies. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was adopted to test hypothesized relationships between the endogenous construct of process performance and three exogenous constructs measuring R&Cs. The results suggest that process performance is an appropriate and effective method measuring SCA in terms of good construct validity and of consistency with the RBV expectations.