State-firm interactions in the formation of industrial cluster: The case of intelligent industry of Changsha, China

Keywords: Industrial cluster, economic geography, local development, emerging industries
Abstract Type: Virtual Paper Abstract

Abstract

The formation of industrial clusters against the backdrop of globalization has long been a widely debated topic in the scholarship of economic geography. earlier strands tended to highlight the significance of the entry of multi-national enterprises (MNEs) into regions and conceptualize the coupling between global footloose capitals and the region as an essential force to form industrial clusters. Recent years, responding to the burgeoning industrial upgrading paved by states, some scholars have drawn more attention to the role played by the state in shaping the business-region nexuses. Combining these two views symmetrically, this paper examines the case of an emerging industry – the intelligent industry of Changsha, an inland China city, and unravels that in the formation of this industry’s cluster, the interaction and mutual integration of the state and MNEs in multiple aspects have improved both parties’ capability and embedded two parties into the industrial cluster more deeply. To theorize this state-business collaboration, this paper strikes a balance between the previous theories concerning industrial cluster and argues that the formation of industrial clusters is fostered and heavily influenced by the bidirectional integration between the state and MNEs.