The Craft, Fashion, and Cultural-Products Industries of Los Angeles: Competitive Dynamics and Policy Dilemmas in a Multisectoral Image-

Producing Complex Author(s): Allen J. Scott Source: Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 86, No. 2 (Jun., 1996), pp. 306-323 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Association of American Geographers Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2564007 Accessed: 12/10/2010 03:09
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Fashion, and Cultural-Products The Craft, Industriesof Los Angeles: CompetitiveDynamics and Policy Dilemmas in a Multisectoral Complex Image-Producing
Allen J.Scott of Geography, and Department and Social Research, School of PublicPolicy of California, Los Angeles University
Angeles has long been one of the critical pulses of the economic and cultural capitalism. condition of twentieth-century and moits aircraft Even before World War 11 tion-pictureindustriesgave it peculiar visibility and global reach. In the post-War decades, aircraft manufacturingdeveloped into a fullblown aerospace-defense industry, making SouthernCalifornia the largesthigh-technology production region in the world (althoughsince the late 1980s, severe job losses have occurred as a result of declining federal spending on also armaments). The motion-pictureindustry grew rapidly after World War 11,continually influence and spinincreasing its international ning off many new entertainmentindustries, especially in televisionand music recording.In addition,over the lastfew decades, Los Angeles has witnessed major if not always steady growthin a series of craft-based,design-intensive industries or sectors like apparel, furniture, printingand publishing,and so on. Together with the entertainmentindustries,the latter much of sectors can be viewed as constituting fashthe core of a regional ensemble of craft, ion, and cultural-productsindustries (or culLos This regional ensemble forms a many-faceted, multisectoralimage-producing com plex, where the term "image-producing"refersvery liberallyto those kinds of economic activity (e.g., the manufactureof clothing or jewelry, and music recording)thatdepend film-making, for their success on the commercialization of objects and services that transmitsocial and or a secculturalmessages, eitheras a primary
Annals of the Association of Anierican Geographers, 86(2), 1996, pp. 306-323

forshort). industries tural-products

ondary function. The individual sectors that make up the complex, moreover, have strong actual and potentialconnections with one anstructures, other in terms of theirinput-output the kinds of labor pools thatthey tap, and the finalmarketsin which they sell theirproducts. for present purposes, the Most importantly outputs of each sector are heavily laden with an interlocking semiotic content, constituting field of meanings with strong developmental and innovativesynergies. magThe power of these synergiesis greatly nified by the circumstance that the culturalproducts industries of Los Angeles cater to overlapping markets/audiences that share similar, if increasingly diversified, popular tastes. They are further reinforced by the strongspatial agglomerationthatcharacterizes the locational pattern of producers in these Thus, on the one hand, the culturalindustries. products industries constitute a system that constantlycreates and recreates images of Los Angeles as a place, i.e., as a locale associated aura and mystiquein the form witha distinctive of certain impressions, personae, memories, styles, trends, and so on; and on the other hand, these industries consume the same place-specific cultural phenomena as critical inputs. Indeed, the very prosperityof these industriesdepends at least in part upon their capacity to draw upon, and to reproduce in ever more imaginativeproduct configurations, of Los Angeles as a place. In this the attributes regard, the clusteringwithin Los Angeles of powerful motion-picture and television-programmingindustriesprojectingextremelydis-

Geographers ?t1996byAssociation ofAmerican UK. MA02142, and 108 CowleyRoad,Oxford, OX4 IJF, Published by Blackwell Publishers, 238 MainStreet, Cambridge,

Industries Fashion,and Cultural-Products Craft,

tinctivevisual and auditoryimages worldwide for all the other is clearly a major externality industriesof the region. cultural-products This paper describes the broad features of the cultural-productsindustries as resurgent elements of contemporarycapitalism,outlines theirfunctionaland geographical connections to Los Angeles, and explores the possibilities of formulating policies that might boost their performancein termsof local job creation and regional economic development. I am particularlyconcerned here with the problem of the innovative capacities and commercial prospects of these industries in relation to place In this sense, the paper can and local identity. be seen as an attemptto investigatethe connections between two principal sets of phenomena, namely: 1) the organizationand locational logic of flexible production systems (cf., Castillo 1994; Harrison 1992; Leborgne and Lipietz 1992; Piore and Sabel 1984; Salais and Storper 1993; Saxenian 1994; Scott 1988; 1993a; Storper1989; among others); and 2) (in a much less ambitiousway) the notion of place as a unique structureof mental associations that can be turned to commercial purpose.1 This second level of investigationmakes special reference, of course, to Los Angeles as 1991; icon and symbol (Davis 1990; Entrikin Jencks1993; Molotch 1996; Soja 1989; Sorkin 1992). The net effectis an account of (and a corresponding set of policy deductions about) of economic geography and the interrelations culturalgeography in the peculiar urban milieu of Southern California,and of the strikingly original and dynamic trajectoryof local economic development that has ensued.

307

of and Performance Structure the Craft, Fashion,and Industries Cultural-Products

Characteristics Organizational
in Los Angeindustries The cultural-products les are represented by a range of manufacturing and service sectors engaged in the creation of marketableoutputsthatcan be variouslydescribed as personal ornaments, aestheticized commodities, modes of social display,formsof and instruments and distraction, entertainment of persuasion.

Production activitiesin these industriesare generally-though by no means exclusivelydescribable in terms of flexiblespecialization, a term coined by Piore and Sabel (1984) to designate economic operations that (in contrastto mass production) are oriented to the production of small batches of output forspecialized marketniches, and where competitive strategytypicallyentails constant product differentiationand/or significantlevels of cusindustries, tomization. In the cultural-products the element of fashion, style,and fad and the pressures on producers to make theiroutputs distinctive accentuate thistendency to flexible specialization (cf., DiMaggio 1977; Hirsch 1972; Peterson and Berger1975; Shapiro et al. 1992). Hence, many segments of the culturalproducts industriesresisthigh levels of mechaeconomies nization and the search forinternal of scale, above all in those sectors where hyper-innovationprevails, and they are typically In some cases (as in segquite labor-intensive. firmsemploy ments of the clothing industry), predominantlylow-skilled workers in a lowtechnology work environment.In other cases (as in segments of the motion-pictureindustry),they use skilled labor in technology- and As a work environments. information-intensive consequence of these circumstances, individinual establishmentsin the cultural-products dustries are usually small in size, though large firmsare not uncommon, especially and inactivities(Aksoy and creasinglyin distribution Robins 1992; Driver and Gillespie 1993; Lash and Urry1994; Storper1993; Vogel 1986). The susceptible to production system,too, is highly and forthe uncertainties verticaldisintegration, thatflow fromthe competitive eninstabilities vironmentin which producers operate tend to accentuate the play of externalas opposed to internal economies of scale and scope. For these reasons, cultural-products industries fairlyregularlycluster into transactions-intenExsive agglomerations of specialized firms.2 amples of this clusteringcan be found in London with its book and magazine publishing trades and its theatricaland musical undertakclothingbusiings; in Pariswithitshigh-fashion makness and many additionalsmall industries ing articlesde Paris; in the Northeastand Cenwithitsnumerous specialized manuter of Italy facturesrangingfromceramics to shoes; and, of course, in Los Angeles with its diverse colindustries. lection of cultural-products

308

Scott

cultural-products These examplesrepresent whichhave achieved agglomerations industrial periodsof lengthy over rather highreputations agindustrial butnotallcultural-products time, The floursuccessful.3 are equally glomerations at leastsome incorporate cases typically ishing attributes: of the following combination

advantagein refacetof competitive portant gionaleconomicsystems. economic of interrelated the clustering First, of increases the (static) efficiency activities exchangebetween and information transacting are fureffects proximity Beneficial producers. of durable ther enhanced by the formation of workerswithinand around communities and diare of highquality (1) Theirproducts so thata supplyof agof producers, clusters and producersdisplaya capacity versity, and skills, sensitivities, glomeration-specific design configura- tacitknowledgeis alwaysavailable changing forconstantly to employtionsover time. comindustries, ers. In the cultural-products on all are extremely innovative (2) Producers imporlike these are of paramount munities This oftheir businessactivities. dimensions tance giventhe roleof laboras an indispensaand imikeeps themahead ofcompetitors between local culture ble pointof mediation in otherplaces,and in the mostdytators and final products. namic cases, enables themto shape and have been effects Second, once thesestatic than consumerdemands rather anticipate setofprocessesthen secured,a moredynamic them. follow These revolvearoundlearning come intoplay. (3) Their products enjoy strong collective Any localized networkor and innovation. places from their derived effects reputation producerscan be seen complex of industrial inis an important of origin. Authenticity and potenset of realactivities as a structured in the sense that of such effects, gredient within Individuals positioned tialopportunities. on certain often consumers puta premium well situated to are especially such networks kindsof connectionsbetween the prodtake advantageof the availableopportunities qualities theybuyand theintrinsic uctsthat than othersto because theyare more likely of the places where these productsare to act and ability knowledge havethe requisite made. This in turnis bound up withcon(cf., Pred 1967). This kind of knowledgeis oftherealor factitious oftenuncodified, sumers' impressions as an 'atmosphere' existing of those same places. We may identities and acinformation of agglomeration-specific thata exaggeration, say, withonly slight cumulatedexperience.Transactions-intensive Hollywoodmovie can only be made in are also sitesofincesagglomerations industrial Hollywood. flowsabuninformation so that santinteraction and new knowledge thesystem through dantly of cultural-products is typically concentrations Regional at each fresh encounter generated withthese attributes (i.e., competiindustries between transactors (de Vet and Scott1992; fora tive advantages)oftenachieve mastery, Russo 1985; Von Hippel 1988). This informaButhow we timeat least,over widermarkets. of and enhancingproperty tion-conserving created and susmay ask are such features is a significant source of untraded proximity And contexts? tainedin particular geographic linkingproducers into a interdependencies in such features publicpolicyforge how might the role of collectivebody, and it intensifies regionsthateitherhave fallenbehind in the of inventiveas fountainheads agglomerations race or have been unable to escompetitive advantages. ness and localizedcompetitive industrial tablish a viable cultural-products inany Third, levelsofeconomiccompetition complex? are oftenintense,thus given agglomeration individual producersto maintain motivating high levels of excellence (Porter1990); but Industrial even where competitionis strong,certain Cultural-Products Agglomerations and cooperative arrangeofcollaborative kinds and theirDevelopmentalPotentials mentscan help producershone theirperforstandards. Accordingly, A brief manceto even sharper responseto these questionscan be collective actionand oron regional facilitating the recentliterature institutions from distilled der willoftenspringinto being in given ageconomic development and locational agas various This response consistsof three groupsand individuals glomerations glomeration.4 each ofwhichdescribesan immainremarks, join together in search of more efficient

Industries Craft, Fashion,and Cultural-Products

than those of economic activity configurations marthat emerge out of simple "arm's-length" ket relationships(cf. Olson 1965). Institutions like these may take the form of partnerships, voluntary associations, governmentalagencies, or any sort of private-publicenterprise.They willusuallyprovide at least certaincriticalkinds of public and semi-public goods, e.g., basic technological research inceninfrastructure, of the certification facilities, tives, labor-training of local products,and so on. These authenticity may also be used as remedial ageninstitutions becies wherever opportunisticand free-rider haviorthreatensto undercutgeneral economic well-being, e.g., in tourist complexes where the reputation of the whole depends very much on the reputationof the individualparts. They may intervene,as well, to regulate patin the between participants ternsof interaction networking) local economy (e.g., just-in-time or comof superiorproductivity in the interests petitiveness. These propositions on the benefits of agglomerationderive froma conception of competitiveadvantage as an outcome of the intertwiningof marketenterpriseand collective action in dense transactions-intensive clusters of producers. And preciselybecause any agglomerationis always at least in some minimalsense a collectivity, it is also a form of communal property and a legitimate-indeed compelling-object of policy attention.The most vibrant cultural-productsindustrialagglomerations today are all characterized by elements of these prerequisites of success, underlining once again the importance of place as: 1) a kinds of production carepositoryof particular pabilities,skills,and know-how; 2) a stock of commercializable culturalassociations and images; and 3) a set of localized political and quasi-politicalinstitutions. the emphasis here on the Notwithstanding notions of agglomerationand place, industrial localitiesin modern capitalismare farfrombeing self-contained and isolated units; rather, and to an increasing degree, the entire world can be seen as their sphere of marketoperations (Amin and Thrift 1992; Scott and Storper 1992). One consequence of this is thatspecialdistribution companies ist,oftenmulti-national, have tended to spring into being at the interface between upstream agglomerated production systems in the cultural-products industry and downstream global markets. Benetton, IKEA,The Gap, the filmand music distributors

309

of Hollywood, the U.S. televisionnetworks,are cases in point. These distributors operate alongside and in addition to the numerous agents, contractors, dealers, representatives, jobbers, and "impannatore"who work within individual agglomerations trading on intragaps. In this regard, agglomerationinformation puzzles of regional one of the more intriguing development theory concerns the new forms that have of economic and geographic activity arisen in response to the explosion of informasystems (see, forextion in modern industrial ample, Hepworth 1990). While conventional wisdom sees this explosion as givingrise to a wholesale geographic dispersal of economic under suitable conditions itcan be just activity, agglomas much an inducement to intensified eration-all the more so where the augmented calls for increased interstock of information personal mediation of transactions between unitsof production.

Fashion,and The Craft, of Industries Cultural-Products Los Angeles

and Data Definitions
of Los Angeindustries The cultural-products of manufacturing les consist of a multiplicity and service activitieswith varyingdegrees of overlap. In terms of general functionalcharaccan be two broad groups of industries teristics, recognized at the outset. One of these is comsectors, e.g., clothing, prised of manufacturing and publishing,whose and printing furniture, degree composed labor force is to a significant of blue-collarworkers; the other is comprised of service sectors, e.g., motion pictures,television program production, the music industry, and advertising,whose labor force is mainly white-collar.In fact,the manufacturing/service distinctionthat the officialStandard Industrial Classification imposes on us when dealing with data forthese industriesis almost enstatistical are all and the sectors identified artificial, tirely by featuresof both in various degrees typified and "service" functions. For "manufacturing" our purposes, what they share in common is that:1) theirproduction processes are characterized by strong elements of craft, in the sense thatthey are dependent on large inputs human labor; 2) theirmarketsare of multivalent

310

Scott third place, some importantcultural-products industriesin (and around) Los Angeles simply cannot be identifiedin the various Standard IndustrialClassifications.There is no special past or designation in any of the classifications, present, for theme parks, interiordecorators and designers, recordingstudios, or car design in use before the studios; and in classifications present one was adopted in 1987, advertising and architecturalservices are grouped with miscellaneous service categories. With these reservationsin mind, three main observations can be made on the basis of Tadiveris the extraordinary bles 1, 2, and 3. First industriesin Los sity of the cultural-products Angeles; although apparel, printingand publishing,and motion pictures clearly dominate, and the production furniture, toys, advertising, of music are also prominent. Second is the small average size of establishments (though large establishmentsdo of course exist), and their tendency to become even smaller over time. Third is the vigorous growth of these industries since the 1960s. Indeed, employment in the culturalproducts industriesof Los Angeles County is now greater than it is in high-technology industry(mainly aerospacedefense sectors) which in 1991 accounted for a total of 265,000 workers. Since 1991, moreover, the gap between the two groups has ingrown even wider as the cultural-products dustries have continued to expand, and as high-technologyindustryhas declined due to the severe nation-wide shrinkage of defense contractingwork.

subject to rapid changes in consumer tastes and fashions; and 3) theirproducts all play on part systems of culturalallusion as an intrinsic of theircommercial appeal. Data on numbers of employees and estabindustriesof lishmentsin the cultural-products Los Angeles are set out in Tables 1, 2 and 3, for the years 1962, 1977, and 1991, respectively.There is much at faultwith these data, and they need to be scrutinizedwith due caution. In the firstplace, the definitionsof the individualsectors withinthe Standard Industrial Classification change (often radically) from comparisons time to time, and inter-temporal are not feasible in many cases. In the second in these tables are place, the sectors identified not always devoted exclusivelyto the making of culturalproducts. For example, SIC 22 (textile-mill products) in Los Angeles includes producers of industrialfabrics and cordage for heavy-dutyuses, though most of the sector is textile goods, especially knitwear fashions. while many establishmentsin SIC 27 Similarly, and publishing)turnout genuine cul(printing tural products like greetingcards, magazines, and books, others are engaged in activities such as the printingof business forms and commercial directories. Some attempt to resolve this problem has been made by referring indusin certain cases to three- and four-digit trialcategories in Tables 1, 2, and 3, but even categories where these more detailed industrial are used the problem cannot be solved with statistics.In the on the basis of official finality

of fancy dominatedby small manufacturers

Industriesin Los Angeles County, 1962. Table 1. Selected Craft,Fashion, and Cultural-Products
Average Establishment Size 29.3 28.0 24.8 22.8 33.2 8.7 34.5 15.9 13.0 46.0 52.2 9.4

SIC 22 23 25 27 31 391 394 396 731 781 782 792

Industry Textilemillproducts Apparel and related products and fixtures Furniture and publishing Printing Leather and leather products and silverware Jewelry Toys and sportinggoods Costume jewelry and notions Advertising Motion-pictureproduction and distribution Motion-pictureservice industries Producers, orchestras, entertainers Totals:

Employment 5,209 47,869 21,902 36,936 4,609 663 5,379 860 6,575 26,423 5,012 4,762 166,199

Establishments 178 1,707 884 1,619 139 76 156 54 506 575 96 506 6,496

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. 1962. County Business Patterns.

Industries Craft, Fashion,and Cultural-Products

311

Industries in Los AngelesCounty, 1977. Table 2. SelectedCraft, Fashion, and Cultural-Products

SIC 22 23 25 27 31 3652 391 394 396 731 781 782 792 Industry mill Textile products and other Apparel textile products Furniture and fixtures Printing and publishing Leather and leather products Phonograph records Jewelry, silverware, and plated ware Toysand sporting goods Costumejewelry and notions Advertising and Motion-picture production distribution and Motion-picture Producers, orchestras, entertainers Totals:
services services

Employment 9,654 78,418 33,727 45,392 5,000-9,999 2,897 1,888 8,822 1,995 6,764 33,720 6,450 9,936 244,663-249,662

Establishments 227 2,559 892 2,162 172 132 164 198 84 594 1,383 199 1,000 9,766

Average Establishment Size 42.5 30.6 37.8 21.0 29.1-58.1 21.9 11.5 44.6 23.8 11.4 24.4 32.4 9.9

ofCommerce, Bureau oftheCensus.1977. County Business Patterns. Source:U.S. Department

The Geography and EconomicPerformance of the Cultural-Products Industries of Los Angeles As we wouldexpectinthecase ofindustries marked by highlevelsofvertical disintegration and a transactions-intensive mode of operaindustion,almostall of the cultural-products

triesin Los Angelesform and distightly-knit within tinctive industrial districts the confines of the metropolitan area (cf.,Christopherson and Storper 1986; Molotch1996; Scott1988; 1994; 1996). Figure 1 providesa first glimpse of the locational formed pattern by a selected set of these industries (i.e., clothing, furniture, It and advertising). jewelry,entertainment,

Industriesin Los Angeles County, 1991. Table 3. Selected Craft,Fashion, and Cultural-Products
Average Establishment Size 40.2 24.8 34.8 21.7 28.8 29.7 12.0 23.9 47.7 12.3 31.2 43.9 6.5 9.1

SIC 22 23

Industry

Employment

Establishments

10,724 267 Textilemillproducts 99,902 4,024 Apparel and other textile products 809 28,136 and fixtures Furniture 25 2,686 58,280 and publishing Printing 27 96 2,760 Leather and leather products 31 57 1,695 Prerecorded records and tapes 3652 207 2,484 silverware,and plated Jewelry, 391 ware 135 3,230 Toys and sportinggoods 394 43 Costume jewelry and notions 2,052 396 948 11,685 Advertising 731 3,790 118,171 781 Motion-pictureproduction and services 259 11,369 and 782 Motion-picturedistribution services 2,216 14,392 792 Producers, orchestras, entertainers 709 Architectural services 6,441 8712 22,737 364,880 Totals: ofCommerce, oftheCensus.1991. County Business Patterns. Bureau Source:U.S. Department

312

Scott

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SelectedIndustrial Distri4tj
in Los Angeles. The map represents a districts Figure 1. Major craft,fashion,and culturalproducts industrial schematic view of what are actually very much more complicated locational patterns. Areas of circles are of totalemployment. proportionalto the logarithm

should be stressed that the broad geographic outlines of Figure1 are highlygeneralized, for while the industrial districts shown are a landscape of marked element of the industrial Los Angeles, they are by no means the only loci of the industries they represent;in all cases there are many production units scattered throughoutthe metropolitanarea, sometimes spilling beyond the confines of Los Angeles County into adjacent counties. The music-reto cite one example, is concording industry, centrated in Hollywood though there are also two sub-clustersof recording studios (one in

Burbank, the other in Santa Monica), with a number of dispersed establishmentsat other locations (Figure2). At the same time, individual cultural-products industrialdistrictsare prone to internal structural and spatial differentiation. Nowhere is thistendency more pronounced than in the entertainment industry district which comprises a bewilderingvariety of sub-clustersand districts such specialized sectors incorporating as animatedfilms, special effects, photographic processing, sound recording, television provideo production,filmediting,and gramming,

Craft,Fashion, and Cultural-Products Industries

313

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many others. These industrial districts, too, exhibit a locational pattern that contrasts conspicuously withthe patternof high-technology industrial in the region. In the former districts case, these largely coincide withthe innercore of the metropolitanregion, whereas in the latter,the districts (or technopoles) are scattered around the wider peripheryof the built-up area of SouthernCalifornia (Scott 1993a). One noteworthyexception to the centripetal spatialtendencies of the cultural-products industrial districtsin the region is automobile design-of which Southern California is now a major world center with close to two dozen design

studios belonging to American, European, and Japanesefirms. These studios draw on the twofoldadvantages of SouthernCalifornia as a center of skilled technical labor and as a post for observing the latest in car stylingand fashions-another of the region's peculiar cultural obsessions. The majorityof these automobile design studios are located in what appears to be an incipient agglomeration in Orange County, with a secondary cluster in Ventura County (Figure 3). Both of these locales provide up-scale suburban environments combined with an abundance of skilled engineering and softwareworkers.

314 VENTURACOUNTY \0

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Note the emergingagglomeration in Orange County. Figure3. Automobiledesign studios in SouthernCalifornia. Source: Author'sresearch fromvarious directories.

Ifthe region'scultural-products industries are generallyquite similarin theirlocational structure,theyoftendiffer sharplyfromone another in regardto theireconomic fortunes and prospects. One group, represented above all by motion-pictureproduction and services, has performed brilliantly, as evidenced by its remarkable250 percent employmentgrowthbetween 1977 and 1991. The other, as represented by the furniture and jewelry industries, has been eitherstagnantor declining over the same period (Tables 2 and 3). The clothingindustry fallssomewhere between these two extremes,withsome segments attaining highlevels of success and others experiencing considerable stress. The former segments revolve mainly around fashion-orientedcasual wear and sportswearmanufacturers withsuch familiar labels as Guess?, Bugle Boy, Rampage, and

Carole Little; the latterare dominated by nondesigner-label, low-cost producers selling to cut-price retailers (Torres 1995). In fact, the clothingindustry as a whole in Los Angeles has done remarkablywell over the last couple of decades, and Los Angeles (with 99,902 employees in 1991) has now surpassed New York (with just 56,745 employees in the same year) to become the premierclothingmanufacturing center in the United States. A fullevaluation of these contrasting patternsof economic performance would require a major effort of analysis that goes far beyond the framework of the present study.However, a preliminary inquiry can be sketched in tentativestrokes. The most successful cultural-products industries in Los Angeles have tended to maintain high levels of skill,worker remuneration,and marketappeal, and to have worked out viable,

Industries Craft, Fashion,and Cultural-Products iflimited, forms of inter-firm collaboration and coordination inthequestfor outstanding products.These industries are most clearly represented by the entertainment sector (motion pictures, television, and music),but also by a ofotherbusiness likecar dediversity activities sign,themeparksand alliedtourist attractions (from Disneyland to Universal City),advertising,architecture, and interior design.As Jencks (1993) has indicated, a major"LA School" of architecture is now clearlyidentifiable in the workof figures likeFrank Gehry, Frank Israel, John Jerde, CharlesMoore, EricOwen Moss, and others.All of these industries and trades have capitalized on an "LAlook and feel"-relaxed, informal, colorful, experimental, occasionally fantastic, leisure-oriented, democratic, and accessibleto masssensibilities-and much of theirsuccess has been a function of their ability to project thesequalities in bothoriginal and nostalgic forms.6 The more dynamicof themare also subjectto complexinter-industry spillovers of cultural associations and imaginativeenergy-from set designto interior decoration, fromgraphicartsto advertising, from architecture to theme parks and vice versa, and especially from movies and television showsto music, clothing, toys,publishing, and so on, sometimes intheform ofexplicit tie-ins and licensing arrangements. Hollywoodproduction companiesnow routinely on capitalize these affinities withlargecomby contracting panies to displaybrand-name productsin the films theymake (Wasko et al. 1993). The leastsuccessful induscultural-products triesare those that have adopted the "low road" to competitive strategy, as exemplified and jewelry. These are industriesbyfurniture as I have demonstrated at lengthelsewhere (Scott1994; 1996)-thathave for themostpart failed to exploit their locationaladvantages within the cultural-products industrial complex ofLos Angeles. As theyhavefound themselves more and more liableto intensecompetition from in these inaroundthe globe,producers have tendedto respondby unidimendustries sional cost cutting to ratherthan by trying move intohigher market nicheslikethe more successfulcultural-products industries. They have tended to opt forthe purelyshort-run unskilled advantagesof substituting low-wage immigrant and femalelaborforskilled, higherThe problem with wage labor. thisapproachis whileitmaybe advantageous that to producers

315

selfin the immediate present, it is ultimately defeating, forthereare alwaysothermanufacturing regionsin otherpartsof the worldthat can cut theircosts more deeply.Best (1989) has shown how a very similar competitive led to deteriorated labor relations, strategy slimmer and slimmer profit margins, and evenintualcollapse in the North Londonfurniture dustry over the 1960s and 1970s. In the case of the furniture and jewelryindustries of Los Angeles,the problemis comstateand local envipounded by burdensome ronmentaland labor regulations that have made itincreasingly difficult forlargenumbers of alreadymarginal producersto remainin business.To be sure, there is a smallset of extremelyinnovativeand quality-conscious furniture in Los Anand jewelry manufacturers tiesto thewider geles-and these have strong inthecity-but designcommunity they appear to represent a distinct minority. For the most serve low-end markets part,these industries under conditionsof acute competition and cowithlow levelsof non-market institutional hesion.Considerthe case ofjewelry manufacin Los Angeles.Despitestrong turers relations of trust the industry betweengroupsof firms, inthewayofcollective as a wholeexhibits little enconsciousnessor organization thatmight able itto mobilizeitsresourcesmore aggressively and moreimaginatively (Scott1994). The Entertainment Industry: of Success Mainsprings inOf all the morevibrant cultural-products dustries itis theentertainmentin Los Angeles, on industry complexthathas pushed furthest comof organizational the frontiers synergy, mercial and innovation. accomplishment, The entertainment businessin generalis inso that clinedto vertical theprodisintegration, duction offilms, television shows,and musical of desubdividesintoa multitude recordings and tailed taskscarried out byspecializedfirms subcontractors (Scott 1984; Shapiro et al. 1987). 1992; Storper and Christopherson toThese specialized producersare brought in intricate of deals, projects, networks gether and tie-insthat linkthem togetherin evercollaborative and joint changing arrangements TV networks, The major film ventures. studios, and recording companiesoften occupya cen-

316

Scott
Casting News, The Hollywood Reporter,and in the local community. Variety These publica-

inthis tral position processbycoordinating the financing and production of final outputs, but even themajors also putoutmuchoftheactual manufacturing to independent firms.6 It must be stressed-contrary to the claimsof Aksoy and Robins(1992)-that these majorcompanies are notso mucha threat to or a negation of Hollywood's vertically disintegrated and flexibly specializedproduction system as they are a critical asset.Theyhave contributed masto the development sively and growth of Hollywoodoverthe lastfewdecades by distributingand marketing itsproducts world-wide and by then pumpingmoney back intothe local production system. Theyplaythis positive role, moreover, despite, or even because of,thefact thatmanyof them have been absorbed into international multi-media conglomerates. The majorsnow function principally as potentdistribution agents,and they have been enormouslyeffective in projecting Hollywoodcultural products onto global markets.7 Even thoughsome geographicdecentralization of the industry to other regions has occurred (Christopherson and Storper and 1986; Storper Christopherson 1987), it remainsone of the most rapidly growing sectorsin Los Angeles, and itsintrinsic connection to theregion seems assuredforthe foreseeable future. At the same time,a numberof important organizations help to keep the entertainment industry economically and culturally powerful. Itdrawsconsiderable from strength theprofessionalassociations thatcoordinate muchof its and publicrelations activities. Threeof political the mostimportant oftheseare locatedin Los Angeles,namely, the Academyof MotionPictureArts and Sciences,the National Academy of RecordingArts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. These organizations are responsible for the annual Academy Awards, Grammy and Emmy Two Awards, Awards, respectively. otherorganizations, the MotionPicture AssoofAmerica ciation office (withimportant facilitiesin Los Angeles),and the Recording IndusAssociation ofAmerica theindustry represent D.C. where theylobbythe tryin Washington federal government and foreigndiplomatic on behalf of their delegations members. The vitality of the entertainment complexis further reinforced by the publication and cirof manynewspapersand magazines culation
such as Billboard, Casting Call, Drama-Logue

tions are widely read, and they provide a wealthof usefulinformation on new productionand financial opportunities, job openings, and emerging technologiesas well as news about local, national, and international entertainment businessactivities. The existence of powerful professional and laborunionsalso helpsthe industry guilds the interests by protecting and sustaining the commitment of workersin an extremely unpredictable employment environment. Some ofthe morenoteworthy oftheseare theWriters'GuildofAmerica, theScreenActors' Guild, the Directors' Guild,the American Federation ofMusicians, theAmerican Federation ofTelevisionand Radio Artists, and the International Allianceof Theatrical and Stage Employees. The unionsand guildshelp to buildcooperativerelations betweenmanagement and labor, and in numerous local ways preserveorderly labor markets (fordetailssee Christopherson and Storper1989; and Paul and Kleingartner 1994). Perhapstheirmost positiveeffect has been to impedelarge sections oftheentertainmentindustry from implementing the kindsof cheap-laborstrategies thatthe furniture and jewelry industries have pursued, conthereby to the maintenance tributing ofentertainmentindustry skills and product quality. Lastly, large numbersof universities, colleges, and schools throughout Southern California ensure a steadysupplyof skilledlabor to theindustry. Amongtheseare theSchool of Arts and Architecture and theSchool ofTheaand Television of Caliat University tre,Film, Los Angeles,the School of Cinemafornia, Television attheUniversity ofSouthern California, the Otis College of Artand Design, the California Institute of the Artsin Valencia, and the Los AngelesCountyHighSchool forthe
Arts.8

Reprise The cultural-products of Los Angeindustry les is one of the largest exand, withcertain ceptions,one of the mostdynamic segments oftheentire localeconomy. Above all,itdraws enormous from itsmany-sided strength organizational-institutional base as well as fromits locationin a citythathas earned a reputation

Craft, Fashion,and Cultural-Products Industries as a place in which-ever more forcefullymuch of the cultureof global capitalism is forgedand in which the instruments of its propagation have been brought to a highpitch of perfection.

317

Toward a Twenty-First Century Production Complex

Even thoughthe cultural-products industry of Los Angelesis remarkably on the dynamic whole, itsoccasionalfailures and deficiencies are troubling. The industry facesfierce competition at the globalscale as otherplaces, from Tokyoto Las Vegas to London,have cut into some ofitsmostlucrative markets. The historical geographyof capitalismis replete with cases of prosperous thatmanagedfor regions (1) The competitive a timeto become dominating fociof a certain success of the culturalkindof economicactivity onlyto subsideinto products industries is intensely dependent enervation to maintain as they failed their leadon excellence in technology and design. ing edge. It is therefore of critical importance Today, these industries are undergoing forlocalpolicymakers to face up to thecurrent transformation with theapplication rapid of problemsthatconfront the cultural-products computer hardware and software systems industry today, as well as those thatmayarise to virtually every aspectoftheir operations. inthefuture. Two interrelated questions callfor Multi-mediatechnologies, in particular, attention. The first iswhat,if can poliforthe further anything, hold out greatpromise exdo to ensurethatsuccessful cymakers sectors pansionof entertainment and information maintain and augmentthose capabilities that sectorsin Los Angeles.Individual of firms, have hitherto kept them in the forefront of course, can do much to help themselves national and worldmarkets? The second is,are intheserespects, though they often underthereany courses of actionthatpolicymakers invest in basic research needs because itis can pursuethatmight for to secure persuadethose sectors alwaysdifficult anygivenfirm thathave single-mindedly costexclusive appropriation implemented (i.e., to prevent to shift to another cutting strategies trajectory leakage)of any new knowledgeitsprivate involving on the basis of product competition research activities As a remight generate. rather on the basisof cost? quality thanpurely in technology and sult,publicinvestment Some preliminary answers to these two design centers providing agglomerationcan be developed byreference in order questions back servicesmaybe required specific to the theoretical and substantive considerato boost local productivity and innovativetionsdiscussed earlierin thispaper. The anness. An important problemin thisconswers I develop also draw on an emerging nectionis how to construct the organizaon the potentialities of cultional interfacebetween such (public) body of literature for local economic tural-products industries firms so as to optimize centers and private the flowof usefulinformation in both didevelopmentin general (e.g., Bassett1993; Benkert et al. 1992; Cornford and Robins rections. 1992; Crewe and Forster 1993a; 1993b; Lash and educational servicesand worker(2) Similarly, Urry 1993; Molotch1996; Shapiroet al. 1992; needs are commonly to setraining subject vere problems ofunderprovision Wynne1992). Itshouldbe statedat once that and marthe policy approach proposed does not inket failure(Sabel 1995). Skilled labor is volve in any sense the "picking of winners." oftheculIt essential to thelong-run viability is based rather on a bottom-up forwithout approach ditural-products industry, it,high

rectedto improving totalstocksof agglomeration economies and hence to stimulating the and creativecapacitiesof all entrepreneurial local firms. The approach,too, is one thatacknowledges the possibility of,and seeks to facilitate, manykindsof unexpectedand unpredictableoutcomes(new firm formation, technological and organizational improvements, new kindsof productdevelopments, and so on) as agglomerative forces accelerate through time.The argument is presented onlyin generalterms, and no attempt is made to translate itintoan explicit actionagenda witha definite shape and form. Furthermore, anyclaimsas to theappropriate oforganizations kinds or agencies needed to implement specifictypes of policyare keptdeliberately muted. The approachinvolves fivemainlinesofpolicyintervention9:

318

Scott design and fashionfairswould also do much to help largeand smallproducers and theregion to buildnational throughout products. of their recognition international (5) In view of the dense interdependencies an oranyagglomeration, that runthrough lothatcoordinates structure ganizational and strategies cal economic development thatpushesforconsensuson these stratelocal constituencies gies among important in differMany regions desirable. is highly ent partsof the worldhave put intoplace systemsof local economic coordination economiccouncilsor devel(e.g.,regional and thereis muchthat opmentconsortia) for accomplish might system a comparable ofLos Angeindustry thecultural-products To take onlyone example,the deteles.10 and socialclimate neighborhoods riorating to the of Hollywoodare clearlyharmful ofSouthern as theheartland area'sfunction industries. California'scultural-products action is needed to repolitical Forceful trend and to breakthefree-rider versethis developers that impedesprivate syndrome sigto market effectively from responding nals.11 generalizedpolicy These points represent are releconcernsthatin one way or another agglomeration, vant in any modernindustrial no matter what its economic base (e.g., cultural-products, high-technology industry, services). They also suggest some financial challenges on three over-arching linesofattack to thecultural-products specific thatare highly ofthesechalThe first ofLos Angeles. industry portions at leastsignificant lengesisto re-orient jewelry,and of those industries-furniture, have parts of the clothing industry-that headed down the "low road"ofdevelopment. of The second is to encouragethe formation bearrangements knit interactive moretightly ofthe cultural-prodsegments tweendifferent in order to enhance the innoucts industry of the region,as well as to vativepotentials ensure thatsuccesses in one sector can be forthe advantages leveragedintocommercial from others (e.g., the commercialspin-offs as Malcolm films such recent majorHollywood X, Dick Tracy,Batman, and JurassicPark into industhe clothing, toy,music,and publishing and perhapsmost important tries).The third of thosecritical is to protect qualities challenge

Acto attain. is impossible quality product of adequate provision collective cordingly, to serve the local institutions instructional of sucis an essentialingredient industry aran impressive earlier, cess. As indicated ray of educationalservicesin supportof is alreadyin industry the cultural-products place in the Los Angelesarea; but much in especially to be accomplished, remains manufacturlabor skillsin craft upgrading and jewfurniture, likeclothing, ingsectors elry. is one of the condi(3) Marketcompetition is efficiency tions under which industrial imsecured.However,when competition pedes producers from pooling certain (e.g., and endowments kindsof resources to thedetinformation) skills, technologies, rimentof competitiveadvantage, then intervention is appropriate. ameliorative actionand instiofcollective Certain forms the worstefcan mitigate tution-building by helping competition fectsof cut-throat to coto overcomebarriers to buildtrust, convenand to forgeeffective operation, tions of businesspractice.The entertainof withitspervasive culture mentindustry around specific contractual collaboration projectshas made some headway in rethesekindsof issues,butthe "lowsolving reCalifornia of Southern road" industries untouched. mainlargely contain typically agglomerations (4) Industrial produclargenumbersof smallspecialist an essential are usually ers.Such producers of agglomeration econounderpinning mies. Preciselybecause they are small, these producersoftenface problemsin businessinformagathering capital, raising tion, and providingcriticalservices for themselves (e.g., accounting, payroll Both prilabor recruitment). preparation, can play a vate and public organizations role in respondingto these significant thedemandsofmany bypooling problems themon serving smallfirms and efficiently phea collective basis.One exampleofthis nomenon is the PacificDesign Centerin West Hollywood. The Center provides for highshowroomsand other facilities and householdfurend interior designers nituremanufacturers, albeit many of the California. outsideSouthern latter are from of periodichigh-prestige The inauguration

Industries Fashion,and Cultural-Products Craft, Los Angelesas a place-boundsystemof culthatbeget potentand comturalassociations and images,sounds,and styles, mercializable a unique of itsindustries thatgivethe outputs cachet. This challenge involves shoringup powersof place thatLos Anthose monopoly possesses inabundance-butthat gelesalready are alwaysproneto rapiderosionunderstress. Los Angeles, socialproblems, Despiteitsmany like Paris,London,Hong Kong,or Rio de Janeiro,is one of those unique citiesthatis ina distinctive culas having recognizable stantly It is an allurecomturalallureor mystique. ofsunstablebackground posed ofa relatively boulevards shine, surf,and palm-tree-lined of luguhint the occasional,butthrilling, (with by an everbriouspresences),complemented of media personalities, changingforeground (in fadsand fashions pop singers, moviestars, decors to from cars to interior everything Thisallure, experiments. and lifestyle clothing), inthe beingre-created is constantly moreover, sound recordings, programs, films, television flowoutofthe that and othercultural products to the restofthe world.Itis one ofthe region decisiveeconomic assets,and is potencity's the basis on which its variousculturaltially one sectorscould come to constitute products complexesofthe ofthe mostvibrant industrial century. twenty-first made by local An assumptionfrequently is that practitioners economic-development the one represents industry high-technology As the best pathwayto regionalprosperity. culhas shown,however, investigation present can also be an exindustries tural-products vehicle of job creationand tremely powerful (in view of itslong and Paradoxically growth. withthe aerospace-demassiveengagement fense business)Los Angelesmayfindthatits is more closely bound up destinyultimately techthanitis withhigh withcultural products note that nology.I would add the cautionary to lead on the partof the industry any failure than to followconsumertastesleaves rather and imitators the door open to itscompetitors and to surpass to reproduceitsachievements This is not a plea forthe iton globalmarkets. otherthanthe industry to become something culture of demotic,post-bourgeois instrument thatit has alwaysbeen, thoughit is meantto that the endemic economic be a reminder firms face thatprofit-maximizing temptations to standardizeoutto routinizeproduction,

319

back on old forto fall puts,and systematically Any mulaeis, in the end, a recipefordisaster. forcreativity capacity in the industry's flagging intenwill be met by sharply and originality regions from other pressures competitive sified thatare alreadypoised to playa majorrole in of industry cultural-products the international once Allofwhichunderlines the nextcentury. by more the urgencyfor prudentattention of the industry to the problems policymakers of threat of deterioration and to the incessant itshome base.

City of Dreams
In thispaper,I have sketchedout some of and policydilemmas the economic dynamics inand cultural-products fashion, of the craft, above of Los Angeles.I have insisted, dustries of the synergies importance all,on the critical betweenagglomerathatlieat the intersection and the cultionprocessesin these industries are turalmeaningof place. These synergies forforcesbehindthe rising one ofthedriving segmentsof the tunes of at least significant of Los Angeles,just industry cultural-products of oftheavatar as theyare also thefoundation Los Angelesas the "Cityof Dreams."The inof Southern is California system dustrial-urban of of the stream fluxas a result in permanent and creativeenergiesthatemerge innovative vortex ofactivity; and theseenergies outofthis also serve-so long as theycan be perpetuthe region'scultural-products ated-to sustain oftheculas one ofthe mainsprings industries tureof globalcapitalism. of industries Thatsaid,the cultural-products probof pressing Los Angelesface a number and theywillcertainly lemsand predicaments, dilemmasin the come up againstadditional a set of to derive, I havetried therefore, future. for dealing generalized policy prescriptions These prescripwithsome ofthesedifficulties. remarks tions are based on the theoretical manufacturing aboutthelogicofagglomerated and servicecomplexeswithwhichthe paper commenbegan,as wellas on the substantive the mainbody of the pathatconstitutes tary per. They involve neithercentralizedeconomic planning, nor the kinds of enlocal governmentaction that trepreneurial advocatedas an economic-dewere so often they inthe1980s.12 Rather, strategy velopment

320

Scott
are dynamics and locational tionof production in Scott(1988; 1993a). discussedat length abound. regions or failing ofstagnating 3. Examples by cases is represented A seriesof noteworthy of districts industrial craft manyofthetraditional Francesuch as Besancon(watchesand clocks), Lyons(silk), the Choletais(shoes and textiles), Troyes (ribbons), St. Etienne Roanne(knitwear), (lace). and Valenciennes (cutlery), (hats),Thiers ofwhathas now become examples 4. Some recent are literature and multidisciplinary an enormous (1987); Benko (1991); (1990); Becattini Arthur (1990); Pykeet al. (1990); (1995); Porter Enright Saxenian(1994); Scott(1988; 1993a); and Stor(1989). per and Walker inkindof urbanculture 5. Thisis a verydifferent deed fromthe one thatDiMaggio (1982) has described for the case of nineteenth-century on consolidatintent wherea socialelite, Boston, in soposition itsdistinctive ingand legitimizing reproofthemeansofcultural tookcontrol ciety, duction. to an earlier period(up to the 6. Thisis in contrast the industry, late 1940s forthe motion-picture and themidlate1960s inthecase oftelevision, when industry) 1950s forthe music-recording intewere muchmorevertically theseindustries discussion Forfurther they aretoday. than grated (1990); Lury(1993); of thisissue, see Dunnett (1989; (1975); and Storper and Berger Peterson 1993). industry 7. The productsof the motion-picture ofthe exports one ofthe largest now constitute value. ofdollar Statesinterms United also serve institutions educational 8. Manydifferent industry ofthecultural-products othersegments the ArtCenterCollege in Los Angeles,notably of Design in Pasadena whichhas an unrivalled programin automobiledesign (and provides ofthe localautomobile-design muchofthe staff ofDesignand Institute and the Fashion industry) There is also an important Merchandising. of American in Santa Gemological Institute Monica which trainsskilledjewelrydesigners ithas had little evidently though and gemologists, industry jewelry stagnant impacton the largely of Los Angeles., analyses 9. Formoredetailedand complementary oflocaleconomicdevelopment ofthe problems offlexibly specializedindustriunderconditions Bianchi (1992); Brusco example, alization see, for (1993); Pyke (1992); Scott (1992); Friedmann (1995); Sternberg (1993b); Scottand Bergman (1994); and Wynne(1992). (1991); Storper of GovernCalifornia Association 10. The Southern of a proposedtheformation mentshas recently in orConsortium Economic Strategies Regional in localeconomicdevelopment der to promote is that the region(SCAG 1994). One possibility suborestablish might the proposedconsortium to serve specific dinatecouncilsor committees industry). sectors(e.g.,the cultural-products (1993a; 1993b) providean 11. Crewe and Forster economicredeofan urban case study insightful and therestoration involving program velopment of the Notfabric of the architectural recycling Lace Market. tingham

milieu of a local institutional entail the building conditions developmental attractive thatoffers economies, external critical certain bysecuring or dei.e., those thatare apt to be missing comofpuremarket underconditions stroyed of (especiallythe exacerbatedforms petition thathave been unleashedin the competition these new global economy). As a corollary, suggestthat local policysame prescriptions to those makersneed to pay close attention and reprocreation processesofcultural fragile basisoftheentire that aretheessential duction system. aboutwhatthese or nothing I have said little forlocalpolitiimply prescriptions generalized or forthe conceptionand the practice cal life theycallfora higher Obviously, ofcitizenship. coopofcollaboration, to notions commitment thanis curand sense of community eration, also they California; thecase inSouthern rently of local political forms presupposeintensified as Insofar and self-consciousness. mobilization theypointinthe are viable, theseprescriptions new approaches direction of some intriguing to local social democracy,both withinthe workplace and in urban society at large. (1995), Pincetl Authorslike Amin and Thrift (1993) have begunto ad(1994), and Putnam dresssome oftheseapproachesbased on no"voice," and regional tionsof associationism, The connectionsbetween such corporatism. preanalysis of regional and theforms notions scrufurther paper merit sentedinthe present tiny. Acknowledgments
PolThis research was supported by the California to PatrickBurnsforhis able icy Seminar.I am grateful Cole, Michael Curry, research assistance, and to Jeff for their useful comments on and Nicholas Entrikin an earlierdraft.I also wish to acknowledge my debt to the originaland seminal work of ProfessorHarvey Molotch of the Department of Sociology, University of California,Santa Barbara. Molotch's research on design-intensivecommodity production in Los Anto shape my own thinking geles helped significantly about the economic potentialof local cultures.

Notes
on this topic by 1. There is an emerging literature geographers and others. See, for example, Bassett (1993); Kearns and Philo (1993); Williams et al. (1995); and Zukin (1991). between the verticalorganiza2. The interrelations

Industries Fashion,and Cultural-Products Craft,

action"I local government 12. By "entrepreneurial tax breaksor such as offering mean strategies to drawfirms to the localarea,or setsubsidies in campaigns publicrelations tingup aggressive otherregions. firms from an effort to attract

321

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Submitted 10/94; Revised 4/95; Accepted 5/95.

Industriesof Los Angeles: ComScott, Allen J.1996. The Craft,Fashion, and Cultural-Products petitiveDynamics and Policy Dilemmas in a MultisectoralImage-ProducingComplex. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 86(2):306-323.Abstract.

The general functional characteristics ofthecraft, fashion, and cultural-products industries (culofthese industries to form tural-products industries forshort) are described, and thetendency is analyzed. are notjustfociofeconomic dense locational agglomerations These agglomerations activity, butalso places withdefinite cultural and socialidentities thatcan be turned intocomof the cultural-products in Los Angelesover the petitive advantages. The growth industries A decades following WorldWar II is describedand two maingroupsof sectorsare identified. first group,characterized especiallyby the entertainment sectors,has risento world-wide significance through itsability to maintain high levelsofskill, innovativeness, and product quality. A second group, is stagnant or characterized especially bythefurniture and jewelry industries, labor-cost declining and hastendedto pursue competitive strategies marked byinsistent cutting. A seriesof policyissuesis thendealtwith, paying particular attention to thetasksof:1) re-orithose sectorsthatare falling behindin the competitive the enting race; and 2) maintaining of the cultural-products dynamic, synergistic qualities industrial complexas a whole over the longrun.KeyWords: agglomeration, competitive advantage, craft industries, cultural products,
externalities, flexiblespecialization, industrial location, local economic development, Los Angeles, place. Correspondence: School of Public Policy and Social Research, Universityof California,Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, 90095.