Research on the Transformation of Traditional Enterprises in Silicon Valley, USA

Two different emerging industrial zones, one is Italy's emerging industrial zone, and the other is the "Silicon Valley" high-tech industrial zone in the United States, which mainly distinguishes the advantageous location factors of their rise. Let me analyze and compare them one by one.

I. Overview

Since 1950s, a new technological revolution (the third technological revolution) has been born in the world, which is based on the invention and application of electronic technology, biotechnology, new energy and new materials, especially the development and universal application of microelectronics technology. This new technological revolution is in the ascendant, which greatly promotes the development of social productive forces. At the same time, it impacted the traditional industries and made the traditional industrial areas begin to decline. In rural areas where some developed countries have no traditional industrial base, flexible industrial zones dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises have gradually emerged, such as northeast and central Italy, Munich in southern Germany and "Silicon Valley" in the United States. Compared with traditional industrial zones, we call these industrial zones emerging industrial zones, also called new industrial zones.

For emerging industrial zones, we can understand them from the following three aspects. First, time is new, which happened forty or fifty years ago, and most of it was formed after the 1950s. Second, the region is new, avoiding traditional industrial areas and opening up new places, generally formed in rural areas, not close to raw materials or markets, but requiring high-tech level and convenient transportation conditions. Third, the scale of enterprises is not larger than that of traditional industries, mostly small and medium-sized.

Let's first analyze the emerging industrial zones in Italy.

Italy emerging industrial zone

1. Distribution characteristics of new and old industries in Italy

2. Opportunities and conditions for the development of new industrial zones in Italy

3. Compared with traditional industrial zones, what are the outstanding characteristics of emerging industrial zones in Italy?

4. The meaning and mode of industrial community.

For the above problems,

Distribution position and formation reason of 1.

Italy's old industrial bases are mainly distributed in the northwest, and Milan, Turin and Genoa are the most developed. It is the "industrial triangle" of Italy and the economic center of the whole country. The main industries are traditional industries, including automobiles, shipbuilding, textiles, metallurgy and chemistry. Italy's emerging industries are mainly distributed in the central and northeastern regions. Before the 1950s, the agricultural economy was dominant here. Since 1950s, they have made full use of regional advantages and favorable conditions at home and abroad to rapidly develop into a new industrial zone. In order to distinguish it from the traditional industrial areas in the northwest and south, where industrialization has not yet been popularized, people call Italy's emerging industrial areas "the third Italy".

2. Development opportunities and conditions

Italy's emerging industrial zone is traditionally a production area of agriculture, tourism and light industry, with loose industrial organization, backward equipment and many manual workshops. After the 1970s, the traditional industries in the northwest were impacted and declined. Because of its cheap labor, numerous small and medium-sized enterprises and good social, cultural and educational environment, many industrial communities with strong professionalism and close internal economic ties have been formed, which has made the economy flourish.

Later, due to the strong support of the government, the Italian economy was highly open. In the 1970s, the conditions and opportunities (such as textbook Figure 5.37) such as the sharp price increase of raw materials and energy and the developed bank credit system made it rapidly develop into a new industrial zone.

Among the main conditions for the development of new industrial zones in Italy, the strong support of national policies is the premise, the developed bank credit system and the high opening of domestic economy are the economic guarantee, and the sharp rise in the prices of raw materials and energy makes new industries choose light industry with low energy consumption and less pollution. The industries in emerging industrial zones are mainly light industry and traditional light industry, mainly including textiles, clothing, shoes, ceramics, woodworking machinery, food, automation equipment, etc., which are scattered in several industrial zones.

3. The characteristics of emerging industrial zones

From the above analysis, we can know that it is obviously different from the traditional industrial zone. To make it easier to understand, I compared them in the following table.

Comparison between Italy's emerging industrial zones and traditional industrial zones

Xinxing industrial zone

Traditional industrial zone

production capacity

Mainly small and medium-sized enterprises

Mainly large enterprises.

Major industrial sectors

light industry

heavy industry

production process

scatter

Focus (attention)

Concentration of funds

low

high

Industrial distribution

scatter

Focus (attention)

From the above table, we can clearly see the advantages of developing new industrial zones in Italy.

4. The meaning and mode of industrial community

Italy's new industrial zone is a unique development model, and small and medium-sized enterprises gather in industrial communities.

In Italy, industrial community is a specific concept, which refers to the mutual trust, relatively stable cooperative relationship and production, supply and marketing system gradually established by small and medium-sized enterprises in a region (between production enterprises and production enterprises, between production enterprises and non-production enterprises) based on a business activity. It helps to strengthen specialization, improve production efficiency, reduce product costs and enhance competitiveness in domestic and foreign markets.

This kind of industrial community is all over Italy's emerging industrial zones, such as the industrial community marked in the textbook Figure 5.38, which is only a small part of many industrial communities here. Among them, Prato's wool industrial community is close to the historical and cultural city of Florence, which is one of many new industrial communities in Italy and the largest textile industrial center in China. The textile industry here has a long history and superb skills, and is in an advantageous position in the international market. It was once known as the three major textile industrial centers in Europe together with Manchester (Britain) and Lyon (France).

Plato's Production-Sales-Service-Information Network

Production and development of Prato (as shown in the textbook Figure 5.39). As can be seen from the figure, thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises in Prato are concentrated in the wool spinning industry, forming a well-organized and fully functional production and sales service information network. Although Italy's industrial communities are scattered, and their strength cannot be compared with that of traditional large-scale industrial communities, all industrial communities can operate independently and cooperate closely to concentrate on producing one or two products and implement economies of scale, so that the production and sales of such products occupy an absolutely important position in Italy and even the European Union.

Although Italy's industrial zones are scattered, and their strength is not comparable to that of traditional large-scale industrial zones, the whole industrial zone produces two main characteristic products,1~, with clear division of labor, independent operation and close cooperation. In fact, it is a giant joint venture, which implements economies of scale production. This model is helpful to strengthen specialized production, improve labor production efficiency, make products have the characteristics of low cost, exquisite workmanship, excellent texture and novel style, and enhance the competitiveness in domestic and foreign markets. At the same time, they injected new enterprise management mechanism, management methods and new technologies into the older production departments, which made the traditional industrial departments glow with vitality.

Next, I will analyze another kind of emerging industrial zone, high-tech industrial zone, emerging industrial zone-the "Silicon Valley" of the United States. Let me analyze it in detail.

American "Silicon Valley"

1. Time and symbol of the birth of the new technological revolution, major industrial sectors

2. What are the similarities and differences between high-tech industries and traditional industries and emerging industrial zones in Italy?

3. The location advantage of the rise of Silicon Valley in the United States.

1. The birth of the new technological revolution

With the continuous development of social productive forces and the continuous innovation of science and technology, it has played a great role in promoting the development of industry. Since 1950s, especially since 1970s, the third technological revolution has been born. This scientific and technological revolution first began in the United States, where the industry is the most developed. Today, this revolution is still developing.

This technological revolution is guided by the development and utilization of atomic energy, and marked by the extensive research, development and application of microelectronics and computer technology, aerospace technology, bioengineering, new energy and new materials, especially the development and universal application of microelectronics technology. Under the impetus of this technological revolution, a series of emerging industrial sectors, such as electronics industry, semiconductor industry, nuclear industry, aerospace industry, polymer synthesis industry, genetic engineering and laser industry, have been formed. In particular, the continuous development of microcomputer and computer, control and automation technology has rapidly enhanced the degree of automation of production and accelerated the renewal cycle of technology and equipment, thus greatly improving social labor productivity and promoting the rapid economic development of major industrial countries.

Now a large number of high-tech industrial zones have been formed in the world, such as "Silicon Valley" in the United States, Kyushu Island in Japan, Scotland in Britain and Munich in Germany.

2. Characteristics of high-tech industries

High-tech industry, as its name implies, represents the industry with the highest level of science and technology, based on new scientific theories and industrial technology. It is very different from the newly developed industrial zone in Italy. Italy's emerging industries are emerging industrial zones based on the original traditional industries, with new technologies and equipment, advanced management mode and close cooperation. High-tech industry is a new industry developed independently by relying on advanced science and technology. Compared with traditional industries, it has many characteristics. Let's understand the characteristics of high-tech industries and traditional industries through lists, so as to deepen our understanding of high-tech industries. Please refer to the following table:

high-technology industry

Traditional industry

Proportion of scientific and technological personnel

high

low

Product added value

high

low

Production growth rate

quick

slow

Product update cycle

short

long

R&D expenses in investment

many

Very few

It can be clearly understood from the above that employees in high-tech industries have high-level knowledge and skills, among which scientists and engineers account for a large proportion, so as to develop new products. The growth rate of high-tech industries is much faster than that of traditional industries, and it is constantly changing, and the cycle of product upgrading is short. For example, the development of TV industry in China: black and white TV, small color TV, big color TV, LCD TV, precision rear projection TV, digital TV and so on. In addition, the research and development costs of high-tech industries are generally high, and their products are market-oriented. High-tech is a new group which is knowledge-intensive, talent-intensive and capital-intensive. The investment of these three groups is obviously higher than that of general traditional technology, which is determined by the characteristics of high-tech and its industry, which are knowledge-intensive and talent-intensive. High-tech research needs a lot of investment in high-tech, sophisticated and cutting-edge equipment. The key is whether its products can sell well at favorable opportunities, occupy the market, and achieve the effect of "taking the lead" or "coming from behind".

3. The rising factors of Silicon Valley

The "Silicon Valley" in the United States is the earliest and largest high-tech industrial zone in the world, and it is the forerunner and model of the development of high-tech industries in the world. According to analysis, the factors that stimulate the rapid rise of "Silicon Valley" mainly include the following aspects:

(1) has an excellent geographical location and a beautiful environment.

"Silicon Valley" is located in the southeast of San Francisco, backed by the Pacific coast mountains and facing the San Francisco Bay (as shown in the textbook Figure 5.40), with a clean and beautiful environment. San Francisco, or San Francisco, is the second largest city in the western United States and the city with the largest population of overseas Chinese in the United States. Located on an island between San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean, it is the natural estuary of California's central valley. It goes east through Silicon Valley and has a passage through the towering Sierra Nevada.

(2) The climate is pleasant

"Silicon Valley" is located 50 kilometers southeast of San Francisco on the east coast of the Pacific Ocean, with a geographical latitude of about 37 north latitude and a Mediterranean climate. Geographical location is surrounded by mountains on three sides and the sea in the north. Facing San Francisco Bay, the climate is greatly influenced by marine factors, characterized by no severe cold in winter, no intense heat in summer, warm and cool in winter and warm and humid in summer.

(3) There are institutions of higher learning

There are Stanford University and more than 8,000 high-tech companies here, and their cooperation has played a positive role in promoting the research and development of electronic industries such as semiconductors and integrated circuits. In particular, Stanford University played a key role in the early days of the rise of "Silicon Valley" and provided the site selection for the first scientific research industrial zone in "Silicon Valley". The development of high-tech industry needs such a scientific research industrial zone, so the relevant talents quickly gathered in Stanford University, and the high-tech industry gradually expanded outside Stanford University, and the "Silicon Valley" began to form. Now, Stanford University's contribution to "Silicon Valley" in basic research is still important.

(4) Convenient transportation

The transportation here is convenient, with roads and railways passing by, close to San Francisco airport and expressways running through the whole territory, which is convenient for the transportation of electronic products.

(5) Military orders

The optical instruments produced here play an important role in military industry and electronic industry. The U.S. Department of Defense has maintained a stable order for semiconductor components in Silicon Valley, which once accounted for 40% of the total output value of Silicon Valley. The famous Lockheed Missile and Space Company is located in Sunnyvale.

In a word, "Silicon Valley" benefited from the advantages of the above conditions, and rose rapidly to become a world-famous high-tech industrial center.

4. Development and diffusion of "Silicon Valley"

"Silicon Valley" is the center of electronics industry in the United States and even the world, which is dominated by microelectronics industry and has concentrated thousands of electronic industry enterprises. Microelectronics industry is the technical foundation of electronic industry, so it has become the highest technology in high technology. Every important invention of "Silicon Valley" will affect the development of electronic industry all over the world. Since the 1960s, almost all the new products, technologies, equipment and processes in the world electronics industry have come from "Silicon Valley".

With the development of science and technology, the scale of "Silicon Valley" is constantly expanding. By the end of 1970s, because the land of "Silicon Valley" was completely occupied, many enterprises built new factories in inland states such as Texas, as well as in Southeast Asia and Mexico, as shown in the above picture "Distribution of China's High-tech Industrial Development Zones" and the distribution of American microelectronics assembly industry in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, with the aim of making full use of the labor force, land and Taiwan Province in these areas.