Structural cycles and industrial policy alignment: the private–public nexus in the Emilian Packaging Valley

Antonio Andreoni, Federico Frattini and Giorgio Prodi

Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2017, vol. 41, issue 3, 881-904

Abstract: The article investigates changes in the interaction between business organisations, local governments and public technology intermediaries resulting from business organisations’ shifts towards higher-value product segment opportunities. Specifically, we analyse how local governments can (or not) align their industrial policies to the industrial transformations—both technological and organisational—underpinning firms’ value creation–capture dynamics. The concept of structural cycle is introduced here to study the two interdependent processes of ‘technology transition’ and ‘organisational reconfiguration’ characterising those firms shifting towards higher-value product segments. This private–public nexus is investigated in the Emilian Packaging Valley context. The mixed-method study focuses on the case of IMA Spa, its shifts from the food to the pharmaceutical value product segment of the packaging machine industry and its changing relationships with regional public policies and institutions. A number of industrial policy implications for sustainable value creation dynamics in local production systems are finally derived.

Keywords: Structural cycle; Industrial policy; Policy alignment; Packaging machine industry; Emilia-Romagna (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L23 O25 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/cje/bew048 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:cambje:v:41:y:2017:i:3:p:881-904.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Cambridge Journal of Economics is currently edited by Jacqui Lagrue

More articles in Cambridge Journal of Economics from Cambridge Political Economy Society Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().