Winding Path or Dead-End Lane: Path Dependency and Lock-In Process of Hosiery Industry in Zhang-Hua County
Date Issued
2007
Date
2007
Author(s)
Lin, Lexin
DOI
zh-TW
Abstract
Processing from the speciality of Shetou Hosiery industrial district, I discuss why hosiery industry could survive in Taiwan where production costs have been increased since 1980s. Based on Liu’s(2000) research, I analyze the “flexible production” and “instant reaction” strategy in Shetou. Inspired by Storper’s model of regional economy and evolutionary economics, I develop a set of pathway of regional development, including technology, organization and social embeddedness. I elucidate how local actors built up the flexible specialization from the historic resource such as the disintegration of the leading firm. The production system coincided with the global labor division in East Asia in 1980s thus industrial prosperity continued till early 1990s.
However, the wave of trading liberalization around 1990s sharpened the competition. I introduce the debate of flexible theory to explain that Shetou is over reliant on short and individual flexibility. The paradoxical rigidity which sustained the flexible production evolves gradually in this phase. The local resource get consolidated and the regional path become lock-in. Although some actors could bring external resource for upgrading, it is difficult to integrate and combine the external and local resource for breaking through the status quo in regional level.
Subjects
社頭
織襪產業
演化經濟學
路徑依賴
鎖進
Shetou
hosiery industry
evolutionary economics
path dependency
lock-in
Type
thesis
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