Regional agility and upgrading in Hong Kong and the PRD

Background

Economic activities in the Greater Pearl River Delta (GPRD) are embedded into fragmented global value chains and shaped by the spatial division of labour between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland. Business success in such competitive environments depends on competences and resources of firms to capitalise on both informal and formal institutions. Against this background, our project is based on the assumption that a firm can achieve a sustained competitive advantage by agile firm organisation - an organisational innovation to seize opportunities and to cope with uncertain threats in volatile markets proactively.

Major Goals

Our multidisciplinary consortium covers 1) the informality continuum of governance and institutions facilitating agile firm organisation in the GPRD, 2) the regional economic rationale of agile firm organisations, and 3) social dynamics that stabilise and smoothen regional agility. Mega-urban regions offer the best conditions for agile firm organisation due to thick input markets and distinct global-local interfaces. Agile firms are boosting mega-urban economies and have wider impacts on its social, political, and ecological development. Hence, our topic is an eminent emerging field to explain the informal dynamics of global change in mega-urban regions.

Research Team

University of Hannover, Institute of Economic and Cultural Geography

Prof. Dr. Javier Revilla Diez; email: diez(at)wigeo.uni-hannover.de
Dr. Daniel Schiller; email: schiller(at)wigeo.uni-hannover.de
M.A. FU Wenying; email: fu(at)wigeo.uni-hannover.de

The Kiel Institute of the World Economy

Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Soltwedel; email: ruediger.soltwedel(at)ifw-kiel.de
Dr. Dean Spinanger; email: dspinanger(at)googlemail.com
Dr. Dirk Dohse; email: dirk.dohse(at)ifw-kiel.de
Dipl.-Volksw. Wan-Hsin Liu; email: wan-hsin.liu(at)ifw-kiel.de

University of Gießen

Prof. Dr. Ingo Liefner; email: ingo.liefner(at)geogr.uni-giessen.de
Dr. Stefan Hennemann; email: stefan.hennemann(at)geogr.uni-giessen.de
Dipl.-Geogr. Stefan Ohm; email: stefan.ohm(at)geogr.uni-giessen.de

University of Cologne

Prof. Dr. Frauke Kraas; email: f.kraas(at)uni-koeln.de
Dipl.-Geogr. Pamela Kilian; email: pamela.kilian(at)uni-koeln.de

Publications

Beisswenger, S. (2008): Bekanntheitsgrad und Umsetzung des neuen chinesischen Arbeitsvertragsgesetzes. In: China informationen des Asienhauses (2008)

Beisswenger, S., Bork, T., Kilian, P. (2008): Perlflussdelta: Vom Dreistromland zur megaurbanen Region. Wanderungsbewegungen und Stadtentwicklungen im Süden Chinas. In: Scinexx of February 29th

Bickenbach, F., Liu, W. (2010): The Role of Personal Relationships for Doing Business in the GPRD, China — Evidence from Hong Kong Electronics SMEs. In: Kiel Working Papers, Kiel Institute for the World Economy, 1589

Bickenbach, ., Liu, . (2012): Firm characteristics and informal governance of business operations,

Bielinski, J., Meyer, S., Revilla Diez, J. (2009): Innovation goes east: innovation management in China. In: Performance, Ernst&Young, 2 (3)

Bielinski, J., Meyer, S., Revilla Diez, J. (2010): Innovation goes east: Innovationsmanagement in China. In: Performance, Ernst&Young, 2.2009/1.2010

Revilla Diez, J., Schiller, D., Meyer, S., Liefner, I., Brömer, C. (2008): Agile firms and their spatial organisation of business activities in the Greater Pearl River Delta. In: Die Erde, 139 (3), pp. 251-269

Fokdal, J. (2014): Embodiment of the urban. Relational space in the context of the megacity of Guangzhou.. In: Dr.-Ing., Technische Universität Berlin

Fu, ., Schiller, ., Diez, . (2012): Strategies of using social proximity and organizational proximity,

Hennemann, S., Kroll, H. (2008): Die Wissensmacht China. In: Geographische Rundschau, 60 (5), pp. 12-19

Kilian, P., Beisswenger, S., Xue, D. (2010): Floating or settling down? Migrant workers and mega-urban development in the Pearl River Delta, China. In: Geographische Rundschau International Edition , 6 (2), pp. 50-56

Kilian, P., Schiller, D., Kraas, F. (2012): Workplace quality and labour turnover in the electronics industry,

Kilian, P., Peters, M. (2019): Flexibility and Agility: Modes of Firm Organisation and Upgrading in the Pearl River Delta's Electronics Industry. In: Kraas, F., Hackenbroch, K., Sterly, H., Heintzenberg, J.(Eds.): Megacities - Megachallenge: Informal Dynamics of Global Change, pp. 103-106, Stuttgart, Borntraeger Science Publishers

Kroll, H., Schiller, D. (2010): Establishing an interface between public sector applied research and the Chinese enterprise sector: preparing for 2020. In: Technovation, 30 (2), pp. 117-129

Liefner, I. (2009): Spatial Disparities of Knowledge Absorption, Technological Change, and Prosperity: Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Evidence from China. In: Kochendörfer-Lucius, G., Pleskovic, B.(Eds.): Berlin Workshop Series 2009. The World Bank, pp. 71-80, Washington D.C.

Liefner, I., Zeng, G. (2008): Cooperation patterns of high-tech companies in Shanghai and Beijing: accessing external knowledge sources for innovation processes. In: Erdkunde, 62 (3), pp. 245-258

Liefner, I. (2008): Auländische Direktinvestitionen und Wissenstransfer nach China. In: Geographische Rundschau , 60 (5), pp. 4-11

Liefner, I., Kroll, H., Peighambari, A. (2016): Research-driven or party-promoted? Factors affecting patent applications of private small and medium-sized enterprises in China's Pearl River Delta. In: Science and Public Policy, 43 (6)

Liu, W. (2008): Do Active Innovation Policies Matter? – Findings from a Survey on the Hong Kong Electronics SMEs. In: Kiel Working Papers, Kiel Institute for the World Economy, 1445

Liu, W. (2009): Academia-Industry Linkages and the Role of Active Innovation Policies – Firm-level Evidence in Hong Kong. Kiel Working Papers, Kiel Institute for the World Economy. In: Kiel Working Papers, Kiel Institute for the World Economy, 1577

Liu, W. (2009): Do Sources of Knowledge Transfer Matter? - A Firm-level Analysis in the PRD, China.. In: Kiel Working Papers, Kiel Institute for the World Economy, 1578

Liu, W., Bickenbach, F., Fu, W., Hartmann, P., Meyer, S., Ohm, S., Hennemann, S., Schiller, D., Kraas, F., Revilla Diez, J. (2014): Agile Firm Organisation and Upgrading in the Greater Pearl River Delta. In: Megacities – Our Global Urban Future, K., Aggarwal, C., Mertins, .(Eds.): Megacities – Our Global Urban Future, pp. 121-133, Springer

Meyer, S., Schiller, D., Revilla Diez, J. (2009): The Janus-faced Economy: Hong Kong firms as intermediaries between global customers and local producers in the electronics industry. In: Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 100 (2), pp. 224-235

Meyer, S. (2011): Informal Modes of Governance in Customer Producer Relations: The Electronics Industry in the Greater Pearl River Delta (China), Steiner Verlag Stuttgart

Meyer, S., Schiller, D., Revilla Diez, J. (2012): The localization of electronics manufacturing in the Greater Pearl River Delta, China: do global implants put down local roots?. In: Applied Geography , 32 (1), pp. 119-129

Meyer, S. (2012): The world's factory and informal ties - organisation of firm networks in the electronics industry in the Greater Pearl River Delta, China. In: Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsgeographie , 56 (1-2), pp. 9-24

Meyer, S., Revilla Diez, J. (2015): One country, two systems: How regional institutions shape governance modes in the greater Pearl River Delta, China. In: Papers in Regional Science , 94 (4), pp. 891-900

Ohm, S. (2011): The Influence of the state for industrial upgrading – the electronics industry in the Pearl River Delta (China). In: Dissertation Uni Giessen urn:nbn:de:hebis:26-opus-83565

Peighambari, A. (2013): Wettbewerbs- und Innovationsstrategien in Chinas Mittelstand: Eine Analyse der Elektronikindustrie im Perlflussdelta. In: Dissertation Uni Giessen urn:nbn:de:hebis:26-opus-99292

Revilla Diez, J., Schiller, D., Meyer, S. (2010): 探讨香港-珠江三角洲的联系：跨界的制度多样性如何促进电子企业的竞争力 (Exploring the Hong Kong-Pearl River Delta Link: How Institutional Diversity across Border Regions Fosters the Competitiveness of Electronics Firms). In: South China Journal of Economics, 28 (5), pp. 69-80

Revilla Diez, J., Schiller, D., Meyer, S. (2013): Capitalising on Institutional Diversity and Complementary Resources in Cross-Border Metropolitan Regions: The Case of Electronics Firms in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta. In: Klaesson, J., Johansson, B., Karlsson, C.(Eds.): Metropolitan Regions Knowledge Infrastructures of the Global Economy, pp. 393-424, Springer

Schiller, D., Meyer, S. (2008): Agile Unternehmensorganisation und Wirtschaftsnetzwerke im Perlflussdelta. In: Geographische Rundschau , 60 (5), pp. 36-43

Schiller, D. (2012): Informal dynamics of economic processes. In: Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsgeographie, 56 (1-2: Megacities in China – Informal Dynamics of Global Change), pp. 1-8

Xue, D., Lin, T., Kraas, F., Kilian, P. (2010): Informal job-seeking agencies and their role in 'World Factory' of the Pearl River Delta: A case study in Tangxia Township, Dongguan City, Guangdong. In: Geographical Research, 29 (19), pp. 1793-1801