産業集積の多様性と地域産業政策

バーミンガム(英)の事例

抄録

The paper will address the premises of current Industrial Cluster Plans, that is, cluster specialization, and their accompanying risks to point out the necessity of diversification in industrial agglomeration, including local-market industry.
The case of Birmingham shows how the region lost its competitiveness owing to the current specialized agglomeration of automotive industry even though the region used to have a diversified engineering agglomeration. The government's unsuccessful industrial policy and the region's deep dependency on inward investment so far have accelerated the decline of manufacturing in Britain as a whole. International or regional competitiveness alone cannot dissolve the instability of regional economy caused by contemporary rapid globalization. Regional development that depends on outside investment shows little long-term future, since capital moves freely between regions.
Diversity in industrial agglomeration should include local industries, which balance the globalizing export industries. The industrial cluster plan in Birmingham, although reflecting in some ways a comprehensive regional economy, resembles a high-tech-oriented one seen in many other regions. Regional industrial policy should be designed more comprehensively in Japan too, taking into account the costs and risks involved in this strategy.