Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
doi:10.1093/cjres/rsp032
Advance Access publication 15 January 2010
David A.Wolfe
Keywords: path dependence, strategic management, civic capital, regional resilience, Ontario, Canada
JEL Classifications: O18, R58
Ó The Author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved.
For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Wolfe
resilient regions must be able to identify regional rium approach focuses on the ability of a regional
assets through collaborative processes to plan and economy to maintain its pre-existing pattern of de-
implement effective change. velopment in the face of an exogenous shock or
However, regions and cities cannot alter their return to a previous level of output and rate of
trajectory of development by fiat or an act of polit- growth after being affected by such a shock. The
ical will. Their pattern of development is strongly path-dependence approach starts from the assump-
influenced by the industrial structure of their exist- tion of multiple potential points of equilibrium and
ing economy, as well as by the broader set of insti- analyses how a particular economy gets locked into
tutions that support those sectors. Those sectors in a specific pattern of growth through a cumulative
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a dynamic process, positive feedbacks are gener- and their core cities. During the early phase of tech-
ated by strong technical complementarities on the nology development, many cities have the potential
supply side of markets, and/or the interdependence to emerge as the location where a technology and its
of customer preferences on the demand side. He corresponding industry take root. Once a city or
insists that this does not mean that economic region establishes itself in a particular set of pro-
outcomes are predetermined; rather he quotes from duction activities, its opportunities for continued
Douglas North to demonstrate that ‘contingent growth are reinforced by the impact of increasing
probabilistic events have a place throughout the returns to the technological and institutional advan-
dynamic process’ (David, 1997, 17). North argues tages it enjoys. While this may be partly attributable
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An attractive location will likely be favoured by nomic structures and institutional supports as
many firms early in the choice order, and there- a key issue (Martin and Sunley, 2006, 413). The
fore it has a larger probability of predominating’’ path-dependent nature of development in regional
(Arthur, 1994, 58–59). economies, involves not just the process by which
Michael Storper highlights the contribution of these interdependent subsystems co-evolve but also
regionally based externalities to the process of in- the process by which new paths are created and
creasing returns. He notes that the technological existing institutional ensembles begin to break
complementarities identified by evolutionary econ- down and decay. Central to the question of regional
omists and the resulting positive feedbacks or resilience is how adaptable these institutional
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organization’s objectives and the modification of collaborate with these actors under a more distrib-
behaviour and structures as a result of new circum- uted pattern of authority. This may involve the del-
stances (Paquet, 1997, 31). It is fundamentally a so- egation of certain tasks from government agencies
cial cognitive process that depends upon the to accredited business associations or community
interaction of geographically proximal actors to organizations; it may even involve instances in
develop new processes of adaptation. which these civic associations take the lead on im-
This form of learning assumes that neither the portant local initiatives. The sharing of power with
public sector nor private enterprises are the source a broad range of actors creates the opportunity for
of all wisdom; rather, the process of institutional more meaningful dialogue to take place at the re-
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(Wolfe and Nelles, 2008). Civic capital focuses on contribute to the articulation of a shared vision for
the role that dense networks of civic associations the economic community and the local economy
play within successful communities. It is defined as and build a consensus among key civic actors and
a set of relations that emerges from interpersonal associations around that vision (Porter et al., 2001,
networks tied to a specific region or locality and 75). The emphasis on the role of local leaders in
contributes to the development of a common sense building civic capital and creating collaborative
of community based on a shared identity, set of institutions underlines the importance of political
goals and expectations (Nelles, 2009). agency in charting new developmental pathways
The basis of civic capital is its urban orientation for resilient regions; but even dynamic regions with
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Strategic Management of Core Cities
Variations in the ability of cities and regions to mote innovative ideas in all aspects of regional eco-
mobilize knowledge resources and develop new in- nomic activity, facilitate relationship building and
novative capacities are linked to ‘‘collaboration be- create buy-in and are ongoing, iterative and non-
tween agents and their ability to mobilize assets’’ linear. Successful strategies are reflexive in that
and ‘‘the successful institutional arrangements they use their past experience to create a more
[that] often grow out of local agencies and endow- effective process—in other words, they involve
ments’’ (Simmie and Wood, 2002, 149). a degree of social learning. An essential criterion
The theoretical foundation for this argument rests for success is finding the appropriate mechanisms
on the approach to governance that emphasizes the to engage key members of the community in a sus-
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benefit to the larger region or nation as a whole Both Ottawa and Waterloo benefited from the
(Rodrı́guez-Pose, 2008, 1037–39). Resilient regions transition to a more knowledge-intensive economy
are better able to overcome these obstacles in formu- as the relative size and international reach of their
lating strategies that support the co-evolution of their technology clusters expanded from the early 1980s
industries and institutions along new development onwards. Both were blessed with a strongly
paths. endowed research infrastructure, national and pri-
vate research laboratories in the case of Ottawa and
strong post-secondary educational institutions in
Lessons from Ottawa and Waterloo, Waterloo. However, both cities have been impacted
Ontario
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Strategic Management of Core Cities
to form new firms in the region. One of the key the Province of Ontario’s Office of Urban Eco-
events in the region’s early history was the bank- nomic Development. OCRI was closely involved
ruptcy of the semiconductor firm, Microsystems In- with the resulting Economic Generators Initiative
ternational Ltd. (MIL) in 1975, which released led a group of public and private leaders committed
a significant number of skilled workers into the re- to advancing the local economy. The mandate of
gional economy, many of whom went on to found the initiative was ‘‘to provide leadership and advice
new firms. More than 20 local start-ups emerged at a strategic level, on action required to improve
from the collapse of MIL, including some of the and grow Ottawa’s economy’’ (ICF Consulting,
region’s leading firms, such as Mitel, Mosaid and 2000, i). Membership included the chairs of the
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The twin crises of the past decade have revealed experienced by an earlier generation of firms. The
Ottawa’s over-dependence on telecom-based tech- collapse of Nortel in 2009 and the ensuing sale of
nologies as a major weakness in its industrial struc- all its key divisions signal the loss of the lead an-
ture. In response to the restructuring of the leading chor firm in the regional economy. Overall, the
telecom and photonics firms in the region, attention Ottawa case provides a striking illustration of the
shifted to the need for a series of training and labour difficulties encountered by a region in overcoming
adjustment measures to relocate high-tech workers the legacy of an excessive reliance on a relatively
who had lost their jobs with the region’s leading small number of industrial sectors, despite the
telecom and photonics firms. Initiatives included: strong support of its civic governance institutions.
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Strategic Management of Core Cities
Waterloo Plan, which called for the formation of an regarded as one of the keystone organizations of
engineering-focused university with a new ap- the region and its mandate has expanded to include
proach to post-secondary education to be offered land use, infrastructure development and the inte-
on a cooperative basis with industry. In sharing gration of immigrants into the local community.
the burden of technical training with industry, the Communitech was established in 1997 with the
university would be able to provide a greater depth goal of facilitating the exchange of ideas and im-
of education—both theoretical and practical—and proving relations between high technology compa-
build a closer relationship with industry in order to nies. The group was formed as the CEOs of several
anticipate employment needs, secure additional local technology firms discovered that they were
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the more diversified industrial base of the regional private and higher education sectors, but all ac-
economy. A key feature of Waterloo’s resilience knowledge the high degree of networking and in-
has been the ability of local firms to recognize teraction that exists across both public and private
emerging technology trends and to mobilize key sectors in support of the region’s economic future.
segments of the local business community, civic
associations and the regional research infrastructure
in support of new initiatives to capitalize on those Conclusion
trends. The current recession has severely impacted This paper has outlined the way in which two of the
the more traditional manufacturing base in the core cities in Ontario have responded to the major
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Strategic Management of Core Cities
skills; the presence or absence of ‘civic capital’ at Chamberlin, T. and de la Mothe, J. (2003) Northern light:
the regional and local level, and the ability of local Ottawa’s technology cluster. In David A. Wolfe (ed.).
Clusters Old and New: The Transition to a Knowledge
firms and entrepreneurs to adjust their business
Economy in Canada’s Regions, pp. 213–234. King-
strategies in response to changing economic cir- ston: Queen’s University School of Policy Studies.
cumstances. Path dependence plays a role in deter- Chapple, K. and Lester, B. (2007) Emerging patterns of
mining the outcomes, but that role is contingent; it regional resilience, Berkeley Institute of Urban and
is framed by the strategic choices of local actors and Regional Development Working Paper 2007-13.
Berkeley.
the degree to which local institutional structures
Chatbar, A. (2004) An innovative model for skill devel-
constrain or support the realization of their goals. opment in Silicon Valley North: O-Vitesse. In L.V.
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ICF Consulting. (2003) Innovation Ottawa: A Strategy Paquet, G. (1997) States, communities and markets: the
for Sustaining Economic Generators. ICF Consulting: distributed governance scenario. In T.J. Courchene
San Francisco. (ed.). The Evolving Nation-State in a Global Informa-
Lorenzen, M. (2007) Social capital and localised learning: tion Era: Policy Challenges, pp. 25–46. Kingston:
proximity and place in technological and institutional John Deutsch Institute for the Study of Economic
dynamics. Urban Studies, 44 April: 799–817. Policy, Queens’ University.
Lucas, M., Sands, A. and Wolfe, D. A. (2009) Regional Paquet, G. (1999) Governance Through Social Learning.
clusters in a global industry: ICT clusters in Canada. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press.
European Planning Studies, 17 February: 189–209. Paquet, G., Roy, J. and Wilson, C. (2004) Ottawa’s
Mallet, J. G. (2004) Silicon Valley North: the formation TalentWorks—regional learning and collaborative
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