The development of market socialism in China has contributed to a spatial economic transformation characterized, among other things, by the apparent capacity to rapidly industrialize without transferring large numbers of people into big cities. The most striking element of this transformation has been the phenomenal growth and spatial proliferation of industries in particular areas of the Chinese countryside. The conventional wisdom of existing theories of development, industrialization, and urbanization does not adequately explain the emergence of these relatively productive regions. This thesis examines the key patterns and underlying processes and mechanisms which must be accommodated in a new analytical and conceptual framework for understanding rural transformation and the wider spatial economic restructuring in China's lower Yangzi delta. The overall objective is to explore the theoretical implications of the local character of regional change through an evaluation of a hypothetical model of mega-urbanization. The model situates the emergence and specific patterns of industrial production within a complex network of interactions and interrelationships embedded in overlapping administrative and institutional structures which are themselves largely tied to the circumstances of particular places. The resulting investigations are based upon an analysis of regional and local level statistical and other documentary sources, numerous interviews, field observations, and a survey questionnaire of rural enterprises which was part of a detailed case study of one county level area in the lower Yangzi delta. Two central findings are revealed. First, the patterns and underlying processes and mechanisms of regional development in the delta are fundamentally linked to intensely localized exigencies and opportunities within the wider Chinese space economy. Second, external economies, the dynamics of agglomeration, and the role of large cities and other exogenous forces, while significant, were less important in the delta than were endogenous forces. The details of these findings are incorporated into a revised model of mega-urbanization which highlights the critical processes and mechanisms which underlie the patterns observed, what establishes these processes and mechanisms, and what stabilizes and reproduces them. The thesis concludes by suggesting an agenda for the creation of appropriate planning and management responses for the lower Yangzi delta region.

Lietuvai tapus Europos Sąjungos nare, vienas iš uždavinių kuo geriau įsisavinti ES struktūrinių fondų finansinės paramos lėšas. ES struktūrinių fondų lėšos Lietuvoje pradėtos įsisavinti vadovaujantis 2004-2006 m. Bendruoju programavimo dokumentu (BPD). Todėl 2004-2006 m. Bendrojo programavimo laikotarpiui einant į pabaigą ir prieš prasidedant 2007-2013 m. finansinės paramos etapui būtina identifikuoti ne tik sėkmes, bet ir problemas, su kuriomis susidūrė fondų paramą administruojančios institucijos, mokėjimo institucijos bei patys pareiškėjai 2004-2006 metų finansavimo etape. / When Lithuania became a member of European Union, one of goals was to assimilate recourses of financial assistance of European Union (EU) Structural Funds. In Lithuania recourses of EU Structural Funds were proceeded to assimilate, following by 2004 – 2006 the Single Programming Document (SPD) of Lithuania. That’s why, when 2004 – 2006 SPD’s implementation is going to the end and starting 2007 – 2013 a stage of financial assistance, before that it’s necessary to identify not only success, but and problems, with which institutions, managing financial assistance, science institutions and applicants conflicted in sponsorship’s stage of 2004 - 2006. There are raised necessary goals for the system of implementation of Structural Funds: A goal of the work: 1) To find out problems of assimilation of Structural Funds in municipalities of Plunge’s district and Lithuania, estimating quality and efficiency of 2004 – 2006 SPD’s implementation, management and supervision; 2) To submit recommendations and suggestions, how to solve these problems.

Today, Canada’s population is over 80 percent urban as exemplified by our growing cities. As a result of outmigration to urban centres, many rural economies in Atlantic Canada are struggling socially and economically. This research examines the redevelopment of rural communities through a lens of continuous cycles of adaptive change - based on Holling’s ecological concept of panarchy. By drawing on the characteristics of ecological communities, this panarchy-based theoretical framework uses a novel approach to reflect on a community’s position along its own adaptive change cycle and identifies leverage points where policy intervention may be most advantageous. This research also examines the practical application of this framework via interviews with economic development officials. Overall, the results of this research suggest that the panarchy-based framework offers constructive guidance to policy makers seeking to push or pull rural communities into positions of higher resiliency and to expedite times of economic uncertainty.

Higher education institutions during the recent economical, social and demographical changes have been experiencing some difficulties. The important question now is how to preserve the balance between the traditional values of higher education and an extremely dynamic environment, the ever-changing needs of society, which never fail to give new priorities for higher education institutions. The aim of the thesis – to examine the typical interaction processes and their characteristics between the expansion of the potential of higher education institutions and the of regional socio-economic development; to formulate theoretic conception of the expansion of the potential of higher education institutions in the context of social economic evolution, which could be applied in Lithuania and other European Union countries. The thesis aims to examine managerial profile research perspectives related with of the expansion of the potential of higher education institutions in the context of regional socio-economic evolution; to define the expansion of the potential of higher education institutions in the context of regional socio-economic evolution and to indicate topicalities and concerns in this area researches. This thesis proposes a new theoretical conception, which allows studying, assessing and controlling the processes the expansion of the potential of higher education, while taking into account the socio-economical factors of regional development. / Šiuo metu vykstant dideliems ekonominiams, socialiniams ir demografiniams pokyčiams aukštosios mokyklos išgyvena sudėtingus laikus. Svarbus klausimas, kaip išsaugoti pusiausvyrą tarp aukštųjų mokyklų tradicinių vertybių ir labai dinamiškos aplinkos, greitai besikeičiančių visuomenės poreikių, kurie iškelia aukštosioms mokykloms naujus veiklos prioritetus. Darbu siekiama išnagrinėti aukštųjų mokyklų potencialo plėtrai ir regionų socialinei ekonominei raidai būdingų procesų sąveiką bei jos ypatumus ir parengti perspektyvią teorinę aukštųjų mokyklų potencialo plėtros regionų socialinės ekonominės raidos kontekste koncepciją, skirtą taikyti Lietuvoje ir kitose Europos Sąjungos šalyse. Darbe pasiūlytas naujas perspektyvus teorinis aukštųjų mokyklų potencialo plėtros regionų socialinės ekonominės raidos kontekste modelis, pagal kurį aukštųjų mokyklų potencialo ir įvairių regioninių sistemų sąryšiai įvertinami atsižvelgiant į regionų hierarchiją.

Regional Development is a potentially powerful approach to help lower the inequality among Indian states. This study uses a robust control model for residuals analysis of infrastructure levels (rate of rural electrification and provision of all-weathered roads) to identify states that are over-performing and under-performing. The results show that a large disparity exists in providing adequate infrastructure among Indian states. While states such as, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are outdoing expectations, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are under-performing. A closer look at state policies adopted after the economic reforms, helped shed light on possible measures that under-performing states could adopt in order to improve standards of infrastructural development. Since infrastructure is closely related to overall economic development, adopting policies that are conducive to investments can help improve per capita income as well as the output of a state.

This thesis develops the notion of the bioenergy transition as the long-term transformation of biomass from a local resource into a global commodity. An historical assessment is combined with interdisciplinary analysis that focuses especially on liquid biofuels and highlights the environmentally innovative case of bioethanol. The bioenergy transition is investigated from several different perspectives: technical-economic, socio-economic, socio-technical and political-economic. Linkages across different levels from household to global are analysed in relation to the effectiveness of bioenergy policies. In addition to studies at household and national levels, a North-South perspective is taken by including two major regions: the European Union (EU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The relation of EU biofuels policy to international climate and trade regimes is assessed to show how regional-global linkages affect policy design and implementation. Household bioenergy markets in developing countries are poorly articulated and difficult to link to other sectors; a detailed choice model in Ethiopia showed that product-specific factors should be evaluated to inform design of programmes and policies. Municipal and sub-national markets for bioenergy have been successfully linked to national policies to coordinate supply and demand in Brazil and Sweden. Regional market development for biofuels has great potential in southern Africa but regional-national linkages currently remain unexploited. National level efforts remain quite important in terms of energy security and environmental innovation, as evidenced in Brazil, Malawi and Sweden. Biofuels sustainability criteria in the EU Renewable Energy Directive (EU-RED) were evaluated in relation to the international climate and trade regimes and were found to shift some costs onto developing countries. One of the mechanisms for assuring biofuels sustainability is bilateral agreements, which remain untested but potentially effective. Cross-level linkages were often unexploited in the cases studied; national approaches cannot easily capture complementarities across sectors and scales in biophysical and economic terms. Linking biofuels markets across different levels from household to global through regional development policies and specialised governance mechanisms could help to steer the bioenergy transition towards sustainability. / <p>QC 20141112</p>

It is claimed that economic and social changes are having effects on innovations. Today, innovations have shifted from being only techno-scientific to increasingly also being based on socio-cultural dynamics, with culture, fashion and aesthetic aspects becoming important factors within products. The aim of this study is to research how small food and drink producers in Skåne region innovate and add value to their products. Data was gathered with semi-structured interviews taken with eleven small food production companies and three interviews with people working with regional development. The thesis uses the differential knowledge base model and theories about the experience economy and regional innovation networks, linking the research to regional development. The results indicate that innovations in the food and drink industry are still technologically driven but showing some signs of non-technological elements. This was observable in the companies´ use of stories and symbols as part of the innovations. Most of the producers were adding value to their products by the use of experience staging and storytelling. Participation in networks seemed to enhance the companies’ innovation capabilities. The thesis contributes to studies within economic geography and regional studies by studying innovation, the experience economy and regional innovation networks.

Borderlands are often peripheral geographically, administratively, and economically. A particularly illustrative case is the Szczecin area at the border between Poland and Germany, where a large city on one side neighbours to a sparsely populated hinterland on the other. There is a number of similar cases throughout Europe, but studies on them point to a mixed level of linkages following the opening and removal of the physical border. At the project’s start there were few if any studies on the Szczecin area per se, which was here studied through various methods. On the one hand, different pre-EU enlargement plans and visions for the area’s development were compared with practices and realities of recent years. This shows that earlier imaginations on the development potentials have not quite materialised, although some of them were probably too optimistic and ambitious from the beginning. Some of the area’s potentials following EU-enlargement have been more successfully exploited than others, and disproportionately by actors coming from outside. On the other hand, cross-border contacts were studied in the discourses on and attitudes towards the other side among local and regional elites, and among local residents more generally. This revealed a polarised attitudinal landscape, not least when compared to country-wide opinion surveys in both Germany and Poland. This is in line with other studies showing that identities are particularly accentuated in border situations, where the Other is more frequently encountered. These results support recent investigations pointing to a continued relevance of the border even after the physical barriers are removed. At the same time, another contribution of this work to border studies is that the time and contingency of the importance of identities and of the border needs more attention. In the Szczecin area, awareness of national identities and of the boundary appeared to be particularly high just after changes in the border’s status occurred – i.e. in 1989–1991, and then around the years 2007–2010. But while its importance may be fluctuating over time, given the opportunities and resources the boundary provides it will always be maintained in some forms. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Manuscript.</p>

This thesis is an attempt to search the relationship between development, innovativeness and networking. In recent regional development debates, regional networks of SMEs and regional knowledge potential have been emphasized as important components of development. In the context of the thesis, inter-regional networks of SMEs are analyzed as an alternative approach to the regionally bounded perspective. It is hypothesized that regional and inter-regional networks complement each other, and both of them play an important role in regional development and innovation processes. The thesis acquires the indicators for the increasing importance of external networks and innovation capacity in the globalisation era. Hence, the study explains the relative importance of spatial proximity in different types of networks, the positive and negative contributions of external networks to regional networks, and the contributions of regional, national and global networks to innovation activities of SMEs. The theoretical framework discussed in this thesis is based on the recent regional development models and contemporary networking and innovation studies. The main findings of this study contribute to this debate by modifying some of assumptions related to networking and innovation activities of SMEs. In the thesis, the method used for research is field survey, realized in three industrial regions. 131 SMEs have been involved in this survey in order to obtain a qualitative data about network and innovation behavior of SMEs in the sample regions.

Venture capital (VC) has been accepted to play an important role in encouraging of entrepreneurship, maintaining technological improvement and, urban and regional development in the country besides providing financial support for small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) with high growth potential. This thesis analyzes the reasons of the limited venture capital investments in Turkey and the measures that should be taken in order to increase both the effectiveness of VC in maintaining urban and regional development and VC investments to SMEs. Furthermore, VC is emphasized to be an important model that can be efficient in solving the financing, management and technical problems of SMEs with high growth potential. In order to analyze the problems, a field research was conducted. Research consists of two parts. In the first part, the questionnaire was conducted with 100 SMEs in Ankara that are active in OSTIM so as to reveal the general characteristics of SMEs and the funds they use to solve their financial problems in start-up and expansion stages. SMEs are generally family run firms that have limited capital and whose owner is also the manager in the firm. Equity capital is the most important source that is used in the start-up and expansion stages by the firms. The rate of usage of subsidies like investment and export incentives and technology development support, credit guarantee fund and venture capital by these firms is low. Lack of knowledge, insufficiency of qualified staff and bureaucratic barriers are the most significant reasons of this situation. In the second part, interviews with venture capitalists or managers of 3 important VC firms that are active in Turkey come up. These interviews aimed to reveal the goal of VC firms, evaluation process of the applications and VC firms&rsquo / expectations from SMEs. VC firms face difficulties with the projects with no growth potential. Moreover, applicant firms do not have adequate staff and supplies in order to prepare the financial information for the application process, and this happens to be a crucial problem. According to the results of the field research, some suggestions are tried to be put forward in terms of the achievement of a more effective use of VC system in Turkey. In this regard, firstly, efficiency of subsidies-particularly institutions that provide R&amp / D supports- should be increased. Secondly, Credit Guarantee Fund should be strengthened in order to provide more entrepreneurs with guarantee support. And finally, establishment of a center that is to provide consultancy for applicant firms in their project development and application periods is suggested.