Regional business competitiveness : medium and low-technology production systems in Northern Greece

Abstract

Successful regional integration in global competitive networks depends more than ever before on regional capacities for technological absorption and diffusion. Regional development inequalities are the outcome of different levels of technological adjustment and innovativeness in the regional business sector. This paper explores the technological adjustment capacity of the industrial regions of Northern Greece, which are characterised by traditional manufacturing specialisation – for long now declining due to global competition and currently, due to the recent crisis. The determinants of regional business competitiveness and economic performance are explored. The analysis substantiates that even in industrial agglomerations of traditional specialisation, competitiveness lies in technological advancement and not in labour cost compression.