Geographia Polonica (1999) vol. 72, iss. 1

A top-down bottom-up approach to manufacturing change. Some evidence from Łódź, Poland

Ray Riley

Geographia Polonica (1999) vol. 72, iss. 1, pp. 7-28 | Full text

Abstract

It is argued that the emergence of new manufacturing is heavily determined by the way local bottom-up influences or 'agents' - urban managers, producer services both specific and non-specific to particular industries, and new-firm founders - adjust to wider top-down economic and political 'structures'. To set this structurationist approach in context, a brief resume of the changing thrusts of research in industrial geography since the 1950s is presented. The approach is exemplified for Poland before and after 198$. The paper then focuses on the work of the four bottom-up influences, offering evidence from Łódź and Poland's central macro-region.

Keywords: theory of industrial geography, top-down bottom-up approach, structuration-ism, urban managers, producer services, small firms, Polish central macro-region, Łódź

Ray Riley, Department of Geography, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth POI 3HE, U. K.