ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY LAB
Department of Social Geography & Regional Development,
Faculty of Science, Charles University
We focus on theoretical and conceptual approaches to the study of economic geography and regional development, particularly in terms of global production networks, global value chains and regional innovation systems.
RESEARCH
Our main research fields
GLOBAL PRODUCTION NETWORKS
REGIONAL INNOVATION SYSTEMS
SMART SPECIALISATION
PEOPLE
Scientific Minds
ONGOING PROJECTS
THE ROLE OF EXTRA-REGIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND CAPITAL FLOWS ON REGIONAL INDUSTRIAL PATH DEVELOPMENT IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF REGIONS
Viktor Kveton | (2021-2023) | The Czech Science Foundation (GACR)
Contemporary research in evolutionary economic geography has conceptualized the regional industrial path development model and seeks to explain factors and mechanisms by which new industries are emerging in regions and which may enable the renewal of traditional industries. At the same time, the ability of regional innovation systems to stimulate the dynamic development of regional industries varies considerably. Conventional EEG studies has recently been criticized for underestimating the role of extra-regional sources. Therefore, the main purpose of this project is to focus on comprehension of different forms of extra-regional sources and the role which might lead to various paths in different types of regions in Czechia. The project is based upon main assumptions: Regions differ in their needs, capacities and abilities to mobilize knowledge and capital from the outside. Therefore, the role and effects of extraregional sources will vary and will be related to their maturity. More developed regions will be able to take advantage offered by integration with extra-regional partners.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
P Pavlínek (2022)
European Urban and Regional Studies 29 (1), 59-84
This article investigates the core-semiperiphery-periphery structure of the European automotive industry between 2003 and 2017 by drawing on the global value chains and global production networks perspectives and on the conceptual explanation of the spatial division of labor in transnational production networks in the automotive industry. It develops a methodology to empirically determine the relative position of countries in the core, semiperiphery, or periphery, and changes in their position over time. The methodology is based on calculating the automotive industry power of individual countries, which is the combination of trade-based positional power, ownership and control power, and innovation power in the automotive industry. On the one hand, the empirical analysis revealed a dominant position of Germany as a higher-order core, which is joined only by France and Italy in the stable core of the European automotive industry. On the other hand, the periphery is mostly located in East-Central Europe despite the rapid growth of the automotive industry there since the 1990s. The majority of countries kept a stable relative position in the core-semiperiphery-periphery structure of the European automotive industry transnational production system during the 2003–2017 period.
J Blazek, M Steen (2021)
European Planning Studies, 1-20
This paper contributes to the recent debate between two important streams within current economic geography and regional studies: global value chains/global production networks theories, and regional innovation system theory. Based on the review of key literature, the authors first identify the key conceptual differences between these two streams and then provide a comparative overview of their policy implications. Thereafter, the authors show that considerable space for mutual inspiration in conceptual as well as policy terms exists, especially between the notions of strategic coupling and the new path development model. Moreover, the authors suggest six additional arenas of mutual conceptual and policy-relevant inspiration between these two streams as avenues for future research.
D Dzurova, V Kveton (2021)
Applied Geography 135, 102551
The COVID-19 pandemic in the first months of 2020 posed an unprecedented threat to the health of the world's population. In this longitudinal design study, we elaborated the typology of 27 European countries based on the complete beginnings of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic based on health indicators and contextual variables. Two-step analysis using factor scores to run a cluster analysis identifying 5 consistent groups of countries. We then analyze the relationship between the GHS predictive index, the restrictions and health care expenditures within countries categorized into 5 clusters. An analysis of the early stages of a pandemic confirmed that in countries where anti-pandemic measures were rapidly and consistently in place, the spread of the virus was suppressed more rapidly and the first wave of pandemics in these countries was incomparably more benign than in countries with later responses and milder restrictive measures.
J Blazek, A Belohradsky, Z Holicka (2021)
European Planning Studies, 1-20
This article aims to address two research questions. First, what is the relationship between the basic characteristics of companies engaged in global and regional production networks (such as their tier, ownership, size) and their economic performance. In doing so, we scrutinize the empirical basis for frequent calls to ‘climb the ladder’. Second, we investigate the extent to which the economic performance of companies is related to their differing intensity of engagement into production networks, something largely disregarded in existing studies. The study uses economic indicators derived from a database covering the evolution of 55 Czech aerospace companies over a 14-year period. The methodology is based on descriptive statistics as well as on canonical correlation that helps to investigate multidimensional conditioning of economic performance of companies. The results show not only large variations in the economic performance of companies, but also several counter-intuitive trends. Our analysis consistently yielded the statistically significant finding that lead firms and first-tier suppliers are able to sacrifice short-term profitability and level of value added in order to reach a higher level of value capture. Therefore, the difference between value creation and value capture require careful consideration by researchers as well as by policymakers when comprehending the costs and benefits of functional upgrading.
PUBLIC APPEARANCES
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August 19, 2021 [online]
An online conference organised by Charles University and Aalborg University for the community of academics and practitioners in the field of regional innovation policies. The conference featured leading speakers from around the world. In particular, the speakers were David Uhlir (President of EBN), Robert Hassink (Kiel University), Maryann Feldman (University of North Carolina) and Michael Storper (LSE, UCLA & CSO). Event record available at https://www.ripprague21.com/.
MEET US
May 28-29, 2020
Mladá Boleslav, Czechia
October 26-27, 2020
Aalborg, Denmark
CONTACT US
Department of Social Geography and Regional Development
Faculty of Science, Charles University
Albertov 6, Prague 2
128 43 Czechia