The politics of mobility in technology‐driven commodity chains: developmental coalitions in the Irish software industry

Abstract

Through a case study of the Irish software industry, this article explores how an industry and region that was ‘locked in’ to a dependent relationship of routine production within the global software production network managed to partially move up the production and technology chain to develop more sophisticated operations among foreign firms and in the Irish‐owned sector. Relations within production networks tend to become institutionalized and self‐reproducing. Firms and territories tend to remain locked in to a particular niche, in the absence of a ‘development project’ or coalition that mobilizes resources and cooperation to generate a push into a niche further up the network hierarchy. The push for moving up the network comes when a marginalized or vulnerable group within or on the edges of the network makes an alliance with supportive public agencies. Global production networks institutionalize hierarchical relations, but it remains possible for developmental coalitions to mobilize around the connections and resources within those networks to enter new niches further up these hierarchies. In practice, this requires a concerted and ongoing state policy of industrial development and innovation promotion. A partir du cas de l'industrie irlandaise des logiciels, l'article examine comment un secteur et une région ‘emprisonnés’ dans une relation de dépendance, via une production routinière inscrite dans un réseau mondial de fabrication de logiciels, ont réussi à monter dans la chaîne technologique et productive pour mettre au point des opérations plus sophistiquées au sein d'entreprises étrangères et irlandaises. Les rapports dans les réseaux de production tendent à s'institutionnaliser et à s'auto‐reproduire. Entreprises et territoires restent plutôt prisonniers d'une niche donnée, en l'absence de ‘projet de développement’ ou de coalition mobilisateur de ressources et de coopération, capable de les pousser dans une niche supérieure du réseau hiérarchisé. Cette poussée se crée seulement si un groupe marginalisé ou vulnérable situé dans le réseau ou à sa périphérie s'allie à des organismes publics d'aide. Même si les réseaux de production mondiaux institutionnalisent des liens hiérarchiques, des coalitions de développement peuvent encore se mobiliser autour de contacts et de ressources appartenant à ces réseaux pour pénétrer de nouvelles niches, plus élevées dans les hiérarchies. En pratique, cela exige une politique gouvernementale concertée et durable de développement industriel et de promotion de l'innovation.

The future of value creation and innovations: Aspects of a theory of value creation and innovation in a global knowledge economy

“…Ó Riain (2004) argues that global production networks have come to profoundly shape opportunities for mobility within the contemporary global economy. But Daly (2006), taking a more nuanced approach, argues that instead of cheap labor moving to where the capital is, and bidding wages down, capital moves to where the cheap labor is, and bids wages up-or would do so if only there were not a nearly unlimited supply of cheap labor, a Malthusian situation that still prevails in much of the world.…”

Information Age Ireland: The Attraction, the Reality and Never Ending Geography

“…Through a targeted industrial policy aided by industrial development agencies the state was instrumental in creating a very hospitable climate for foreign investment. O'Riain (2004) sees the agencies of the national state as central in the attraction of FDI and the creation of Ireland as an entrepot region, and highlights the power of the IDA within the national state system through its role as "hunter and gatherer" of FDI.…”

“…O 'Riain, (2004) citing MacLaran (1993, recognizes the influence the agency has had on the restructuring of the Irish economy through the fact "that by 1983 the IDA had been associated with the development of nearly one-third of factory units developed in Dublin since 1960 and was the largest owner of industrial space in the city" (p. 648). For O'Riain (2004), this symbolizes a "hyper-politicization" of state territory as it became an object of political/state action.…”

“…The fact that the industry spans so many industrial sectors makes the Irish case even more unique. The term software became significant for all sectors in Ireland's knowledge economy and in many ways, it is the focus on software that differentiates the Irish case from other, more diverse ICT sectors in the US, Israel, Sweden and Finland (Mowery, 1992;O'Riain, 2004;Roper & Grimes, 2005). The pervasiveness of the software sector makes it an ideal vehicle of analysis of Ireland's information economy.…”

“…Critics of the model maintain that these interdependencies, if they occur only do so on a hierarchical structure within a global production network that tends to see the host country "locked-in" to lower value niches. O'Hearn (1998O'Hearn ( , 2002 goes further by questioning the existence of these interdependencies in a model that is dominated growth in profits and personal incomes, while showing little evidence of a trickle-down effect to other sectors (for more on this see Grimes (2003) andO'Riain (2004)). …”