This book aims to improve the understanding of the relationship between cultural diversity and international economic integration and its implications for global governance of the audio-visual sector. The national audio-visual policies of a number of countries - including Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, India and the UK - are compared in order to assess their potential impacts and restrictive effects on international trade and investment. The variety of approaches used by the contributors reflects the wide differences among national audio-visual systems and offers a rich perspective on how they can be analysed. The lessons drawn from these national case studies are placed in context by up-to-date original analysis of the constraints arising from the WTO system. Scholars and professionals in the audio-visual sector and in international trade negotiations would be interested in the issues discussed in the book, given their importance in shaping the institutional environment of cultural and economic activities in the audio-visual sector.

The current trend towards globalization is posing a substantial challenge to SME clusters to restructure and reach out to distant markets and knowledge sources, while at the same time exploiting the advantages of local factors and agglomeration. This book represents a first attempt to analyze these issues in detail, employing novel empirical evidence. The authors focus on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Italy and Taiwan, two countries in which these businesses characterize the national industrial structure. They find that in the current climate of globalization, there is no best practice model for organizing an industrial cluster since a diversity of successful institutional arrangements is possible. They demonstrate that over time SME clusters can evolve and that globalization can reshape their upgrading options by providing a variety of international knowledge linkages. Thus, the authors conclude that the development of local and global networks and new interactive modes of knowledge creation, which have co-evolved as a result of globalization, have provided the necessary conditions for competitive survival. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, the authors utilize a number of analytical tools to evaluate their survey data and present an original comparison between the experiences of two countries that are facing the challenges of globalization, often with differing strategies. This book will be of great interest to industrial and international economists, policymakers, and corporate and SME managers.

The current trend towards globalization is posing a substantial challenge to SME clusters to restructure and reach out to distant markets and knowledge sources, while at the same time exploiting the advantages of local factors and agglomeration. This book represents a first attempt to analyze these issues in detail, employing novel empirical evidence. The authors focus on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Italy and Taiwan, two countries in which these businesses characterize the national industrial structure. They find that in the current climate of globalization, there is no best practice model for organizing an industrial cluster since a diversity of successful institutional arrangements is possible. They demonstrate that over time SME clusters can evolve and that globalization can reshape their upgrading options by providing a variety of international knowledge linkages. Thus, the authors conclude that the development of local and global networks and new interactive modes of knowledge creation, which have co-evolved as a result of globalization, have provided the necessary conditions for competitive survival. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, the authors utilize a number of analytical tools to evaluate their survey data and present an original comparison between the experiences of two countries that are facing the challenges of globalization, often with differing strategies. This book will be of great interest to industrial and international economists, policymakers, and corporate and SME managers.

Europe's performance relative to the US and countries in Asia is a topic that greatly preoccupies policymakers who are concerned that the European Union is losing ground compared to other, more dynamic, parts of the world. This book presents the scale and scope of the challenges that Europe faces in adjusting to globalization and advances in technology. The evidence assembled in this book points to trends in European Union performance that policymakers will find disconcerting. In many areas, Europe has not kept pace with the technological advances of competitors and seems to have lost its dynamism. Employment creation has been lacklustre, new specializations have been slow to emerge and the rate of innovation has been disappointing. The core message in this book is that the problems Europe faces in key areas such as growth, equality and employment are all related to its failure to take sufficient advantage of technological advances, particularly the information and communication technology (ICT) revolution. It is concluded that a coherent European strategy for upgrading technological capability and embedding new technologies, especially ICTs, in society is long overdue. This book will be indispensable to scholars and policymakers in the areas of economic growth, international competitiveness, innovation, regional development and European studies.

The Economic Impact of Digital Technologies offers a profoundly illuminating examination of ICT transformations in Europe and its critical role in greater social inequality. It presents scholars and policy makers with original and practical tools to benchmark and assess the ICT diffusion and inclusion process. The core message of book is that a coherent European strategy for embedding ICT technologies in society is long overdue. Social differences in ICT use persist and are in some cases widening, yet despite this fact there is a dearth of research on remedying digital inequalities. This is of particular importance given that relative levels of ICT use, investment and research can often explain variations in economic performance between industrialized countries. The purpose of this book is to fill the gap in the literature by presenting key evidence on the economic benefits (and costs) deriving from investment in an inclusive information society. The authors propose indicators and indexes of digital development and e-Inclusion (and its flip-side e-exclusion) to assess the relationship between inclusive ICT and wider economic and social performance in Europe. Presenting the methodology to monitor countries' performance and ICT use, together with original measures and policy suggestions, this book will be indispensable to policy makers, scholars and postgraduate students in a variety of areas including economic growth, innovation, industrial and organizational studies, information and technology, European studies, and public and social policy. Contents: Preface Introduction 1. Digital Development in Europe: A Theoretical Framework 2. The Internet in Everyday Life 3. A Metrics for Digital Development 4. Digital Inequalities in Europe 5. The Economic Impact of e-Inclusion: A Review of the Literature 6. The Economic Impact of Digital Technologies: An Empirical Analysis on European Countries 7. The Impact of e-Inclusion in Europe: A Scenario Analysis 8. Digital Development: An Overall EU Policy Framework Appendix: EDDI European Digital Development Index: Definition of Methodology References Index With contributions from: Marco Bee, Sara Bentivegna, Giovanni Di Franco, Giuseppe Espa, Rinaldo Evangelista, Roberto Gabriele, Paolo Guerrieri, Valentina Meliciani and Jacques Pelkmans