Documents industrial development 129 results

"German manufacturing industries are at the beginning of a fundamental change. In order to be able to achieve the climate goals enshrined in the Paris agreement and in EU and German laws, a “Green and Just Transition” — or as it is called in Germany: a “socio-ecological transformation” — is needed. It requires determined and coordinated action in a multitude of technological, industrial, economic, and labour policy fields. This applies at all levels of politics: from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the European Union (EU) to the federal and state governments and the municipalities. Governments, in turn, need political pressure from societal actors to make progress, especially in the areas of sectoral policy and regional structural and transport policy. Next to a strong climate protection movement and environmental associations, the trade unions with their down-to-earth experience, sector-specific expertise and mobilisation power are particularly called upon here.
In the following, an overview is given of a series of studies on this topic which are the outcomes of the project “Socio-Ecological Transformation of German Industry”. Three of these studies summarise the current state of knowledge on the main trends in technology and economic policy and present the current strategies of the relevant actors in three major industrial sectors - the chemical, steel, and automotive industries. A fourth study highlights the particularly urgent reforms in the field of labour policy in Germany, which would help to link what is necessary in terms of climate policy with what is socially necessary. Three further studies deal with the climate policy framework conditions of the industrial transformation, the significance of the hydrogen strategy and the debate over problems relating to the EU emissions trading system and the EU carbon border adjustment mechanism.
The studies were funded by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in cooperation with the non-profit association Arbeitsgruppe Alternative Wirtschaftspolitik and were published (in German) in 2022, available here. 1 The present synthesis report provides an updated overview of these studies and concludes with detailing the contentious questions faced by trade unions and other societal and political actors on the front lines of this fundamental transformation."

"This background analysis looks at the development and success of two Chinese companies, Huawei and ZTE, as major players on the global market of telecommunications equipment producers. The case of both companies indicates the importance of integrated industrial policies and can serve as a wake-up call for all policy stakeholders in the EU.

The author also focuses on both companies' R&D development in Europe and their cooperation with regard to European standard-setting processes."

"Creative industries are increasingly understood to contribute to localised innovation and dynamism. This paper provides a methodologically consistent comparison of creative industries across France, Great Britain, Italy and Spain. We map spatial agglomerations of creative activities showing evidence of urban concentration, which for Britain and France coincides with the dominance of capital cities, whilst for Spain and Italy, significant concentrations can also be found in secondary cities. The four countries also differ in the specialisation profiles and in the role played by policy makers. A lack of dove-tailing with the European Union smart agenda is argued to be a cause of concern."

"Using the case study of Slovakia, this article considers the role of the state in the rapid growth of the automotive industry in integrated peripheral markets of the global automotive industry. Although this growth has been mainly driven by the investment strategies of automotive lead firms, the state has played an important role by accommodating the strategic needs of foreign capital through neoliberal economic policies. In addition to secondary sources, the empirical research is based on a 2010 survey of 299 Slovak-based automotive firms with a response rate of 44% and on 38 on-site firm-level interviews conducted between 2011 and 2013 and one in 2005. The analysis draws upon approaches in economic geography, international political economy and upon global value chains and global production networks perspectives to argue that the successful development of the automotive industry in Slovakia has been achieved at the expense of its overwhelming dependence on foreign capital and corporate capture. The article considers the potential consequences of dependent industrial development for the domestic automotive industry and its position in the international division of labor."

"We analyse industry–academic links in the context of a dual economy (or disarticulated industrial structure) in Ireland, as an example of a peripheral territory in the EU. The duality found in the Irish industrial structure is the result of a FDI-led industrialisation strategy which has resulted in two distinct economic sectors – foreign and indigenous, respectively – with weak interactions between the two. Through increased public funding of academic research, the Irish government aimed to attract and embed new waves of higher-value foreign direct investment and increase the dynamism of its indigenous enterprise base. Based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative data, the paper analyses a crucial aspect of Ireland's recent emphasis on STI policy – industry-academic linkages – and finds that the measures introduced reproduce in the public research system the uneven development found in Ireland's productive system between indigenous industry and the foreign-owned industrial base."

"By unlocking the sharing economy today, can companies transform today's threat into tomorrow's opportunity? What must incumbents and challengers do to position themselves ahead of disruption and to capitalize on new sources of revenue? Through consumer surveys, conversations with influencers, interviews with business executives and social listening, PwC's research presents a holistic view of what's unfolding across business and consumer landscapes."

"Voici une histoire de la Fabrique Nationale richement documentée, établie sur base d'archives bien sûr mais aussi de témoignages d'un nombre important d'acteurs de son histoire, de l'ouvrier au membre de la direction. Elle nous raconte l'évolution d'un fleuron industriel wallon, depuis ses origines en 1889 jusqu'à nos jours, qui donne naissance dans la région liégeoise, à la fin des années 1980, à une société wallonne de pointe, Techspace Aero.
Elle nous rappelle qu'en plus des fusils et des munitions, la FN a fabriqué des autos, des motos et des réacteurs d'avions.
L'ouvrage nous explique aussi pourquoi et comment, au gré de la guerre froide et des décolonisations, la FN en est arrivée à développer de nouveaux secteurs d'activité. Pourquoi et comment aussi elle a dû s'adapter à la fédéralisation de la Belgique autant qu'à la globalisation et la libéralisation de l'économie. Cette mutation, elle l'a vécue en partenariat avec les plus grandes firmes du monde dans le secteur : Pratt&Whitney, General Dynamics, la SNECMA mais aussi Rolls Royce, BMW, FIAT ou SAAB.Enfin, le lecteur découvrira une histoire de la FN totalement indépendante, qui lui fournit réponse à nombre de questions... la spécificité d'une fabrique d'armements, son besoin constant de technologies nouvelles et ses relations parfois tendues avec l'état."

"The aim of this paper is to analyse the environmental performances of manufacturing sectors and their main drivers, (economic factors, technology, trade). We analyse the dynamic development of environmental performances, in absolute terms and in 'productivity' terms, through both decomposition and econometric analyses. The analysis aims to highlight differences over time, across geographical areas, by country income categories and by sector technological classes. Strong emphasis is assigned to the comparison of consumption and production perspectives."