Astudy On Limitations And Solutions Of Co-Developing Industrial Transfer Parks In Guangdong Province

In2008, Guangdong Province Committee and People’s Government of GuangdongProvince proposed the "dual transfer" strategy (i.e., industrial transfer and labor force transfer)and built a set of provincial industrial transfer parks ("industrial parks," hereafter) in the Eastand Northwest regions of Guangdong (incl.,12cities in the Northeast and Northwest regionsand Jiangmen, Huizhou, and Zhaoqing). This movement aimed to buffer Guangdong fromadverse influences of the global financial crisis at that time and to promote the transformationof the Perl River Delta region as well as the economic development of the Northeast andNorthwest regions of Guangdong. It was also expected to optimize the industrial structureand labor force allocation in Guangdong Province and to advance a balanced development ofregional economies. The majority of these industrial parks were co-developed by the PerlRiver Delta region and the less developed Northeast and Northwest regions of Guangdong.As such, these industrial parks not only utilized the unique resources in the Northeast andNorthwest regions but also facilitated the industrial transfer of the Perl River Delta region.This study focuses on such industrial parks.Developing provincial industrial parks is a concrete strategy to balance the industrialstructure, accelerate its transformation, and alleviate regional poverty in Guangdong Province.To some extent the development of industrial parks can be seen as part of the publicadministration of Guangdong Province. By transferring the traditional and labor-intenseindustries from the Pearl River Delta region to the Northeast and Northwest regions, itenables the optimization and advancement of the industrial structure in the Pearl River Deltaregion, and meanwhile it builds a foundation for the economic development of the Northeastand Northwest regions. After years of development the provincial industrial parks inGuangdong have changed magnificently. At the same time, however, urgent issuesconcerning the collaboration system remained to be resolved.This study briefly describes the causes and the current development of provincialindustrial parks. Based on an analysis of the collaboration system, the author identifiesamong the majority of the industrial parks several limitations, including1) the Pearl RiverDelta region partner is often not motivated in co-developing the industrial parks,2) the allocation of rights and responsibilities is not agreed on by the two collaboration parties,3)the Pearl River Delta region partner does not fully act on some of the contract terms,4) Thepartners do not achieve significant advantage through utilizing each other’s complementaryresources, and5) the Northeast and Northwest regions lags behind in terms of managementprinciples, etc. In addition, the author analyzes the issue from three levels that include senseof responsibility, the internal collaboration system, and the external facilitation of thegovernment. Finally, the author proposes solutions toward a full, deep level collaborationthrough improving the internal collaboration systems and strengthening the influence of thegovernment and the guidance of the policies.