Structural adjustment and the automotive industry: insights for regional policy and programmes

Institutional thickness and institutional effectiveness: developing regional indices for policy and practice in Australia

“…It is possible that in other nations institutional factors will be more influential than in Australia, and we could hypothesize that in economies where public sector outlays represent a higher percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) institutions are more likely to drive growth -or at least have a significant role -rather than play a subsidiary role. It is important to acknowledge that the research presented here builds an evidence base for one nation alone, and one which does not have a strong record in regional policy formulation and implementation (Beer, 2014). Certainly the results presented here would not be representative of nations within the EU, where supra-national engagement with territorial development is well developed and often supplemented by national programmes.…”

“…In some cases the two are absent entirely and there is the mere appearance of a commitment to local development. It could be argued, for example, that the very different outcomes resulting from the closure of automotive plants in Australia and the UK in the 2004 and 2005 was a product of differing institutional structures and their highly differentiated effectiveness Beer, 2014).…”

“…Australia and the UK in 2004 and 2005 were a product of institutional structures and their effectiveness (Bailey, de Bentley, Ruyter, & Hall, 2014;Beer, 2014). Similarly, Morrison (2014) attributed the stronger economic performance of the rural economy of north Queensland relative to the equally agricultural northern Wisconsin to the presence of better-developed institutional networks and arrangements.…”

The urban and regional impacts of plant closures: new methods and perspectives

“…Employer interviews in Adelaide's northern suburbs indicated significant direct and indirect impacts were expected at the local level (Ranasinghe, Hordacre, & Spoehr, 2014). Importantly, the closures announced in 2013 and 2014 did not represent a radical change in trajectory: instead, they followed a well-established pattern of exits by major producers, with Mitsubishi closing in 2008 (Beer, 2014), Nissan ceasing production in 1992, Chrysler terminating local car building in 1981 and Leyland Australia closing in 1974. Effectively, 70 decades of mass car production in Australia ended in 2017, resulting in large-scale labour market disruption, community uncertainty, shocks to regional economies and considerable challenges for government agencies at the national, state and local levels in seeking to manage this process of change.…”

“…Place-based leadership is context dependent, and while there are similarities in how it is expressed across nations and regions, there are also profound differences (Beer et al, 2018). Critically, leadership needs to be forward facing, rather than focussed on historical legacies (Safford, 2009), and able to gain access to resources (Bailey & Berkeley, 2014;Beer, 2014;Kurikka, Kolehmainen, & Sotarauta, 2017).…”