Central and Eastern Europe’s transition to a market economy was not homogeneous. It led to many developmental paths available for its regions. The study aims to see the results of this process and ...describe the contemporaneous innovation status and struggles. The analysis considered Gorizia (Slovenia) as an example of a non-capital region close to the European developmental average. Based on data collected through an expert focus group organised with local stakeholders, the research revealed that Gorizia’s innovation process relies on endogenous and exogenous forces. The region reconstituted the economy from big producers into multiple smaller companies. Their integration into the global production chains proved essential in the transition and further development. This allowed for overcoming the issue of limited local and national resources, market size, and demand. Similarly, it has widened regional stakeholders’ perspectives and contributed to local clusters’ development. Thus, the Regional Innovation System is heavily oriented toward foreign collaboration, especially with Italian partners. Local institutions and organisations are responsible for implementing the most significant projects within the region. Their susceptibility to the needs of the private sector strengthens the entrepreneurial origins of the innovation process. Gorizia’s innovation performance positively influences its competitive position. The value chain Flagships and original manufacturers show interest in local innovation. It is seen through the acquisition of Intellectual Property or parts of the companies to utilise in their production and innovation processes.
Recent Free Trade Area (FTA) agreements of the EU are 'deep and comprehensive'. This can be explained by the various and complex 'trading costs' that business encounters when accessing a foreign ...market and which business is keen to reduce as much as possible. The paper examines what 'deep and comprehensive' means more precisely in four EU FTAs: CETA and EU/Korea, and two FTAs that have not yet been completed (TTIP and EU/Japan). It provides a tentative explanation of the nature of these four modern EU FTAs by taking a closer look at the business dimension, in particular transnational value chains in some prominent sectors, the growing importance of services and inter-sectoral linkages.
Abstract
The paper adopts an organizational perspective to explore the conditions of possibility of the recent re-emergence of overt class-based discourse on one hand, epitomized by the ‘We are the ...99%’ movement, and the rise on the other hand of a populist, nativist and sometimes overtly fascist right. It is argued that these phenomena, reflecting the increasingly crisis-prone character of global capitalism, the growing gap between rich and poor and a generalized sense of insecurity, are rooted in the dismantling of socially embedded organizations through processes often described as ‘financialization’, driven by the taken-for-granted dominance of neoliberal ideology. The paper explores the rise to dominance of the neoliberal ‘thought style’ and its inherent logic in underpinning the dismantling and restructuring of capitalist organization. Its focus is upon transnational value chain capitalism which has rebalanced power relations in favour of a small elite that is able to operate and realize wealth in ways that defy and often succeed in escaping the regulation of nation states.
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