Institutions and Sectoral Logics in Creative Industries: The Media Cluster in Cologne

Abstract

In recent decades most developed political economies have been confronted by structural changes such as tertiarization, globalization, and growing unemployment. As a consequence, innovation has become a pressing issue for both national and local economies as a means of increasing competitiveness (Mawson et al, 1990). Policy makers are therefore being encouraged to develop measures that favor innovative services (Hilpert, 1991), such as those in the creative industries, and attract what Florida calls the``creative class'' (Currid, 2009;Florida, 2002). (1) Accordingly, there is a growing body of literature which aims at improving the understanding of organization and innovation in general and of creative sectors in particular. For instance, studies on creative industries have underlined the high degree of uncertainty in these sectors and have described the ways of organizing work and labor-market processes which rely heavily on flexible cooperation and informal networks. These characteristics are considered to be unique in comparison with other industries (

Staffing agencies in work relationships with independent contractors

“…Second and in relation to that, we emphasize variations of the role of staffing agencies in triadic work relationships of highly skilled independent contractors. For the case of agency work, previous research already pointed to differences in their business models (De Ruyter, 2007; Peck et al , 2005; Purcell et al , 2004), implying that staffing agencies provide different functions (Apitzsch and Piotti, 2012; Bielby and Bielby, 1999; Tailby, 2005). We also revealed in our study the relevance of generalist and specialist staffing agencies for highly skilled independent contractors.…”

“…The German film industry is characterized by low standardization with regard to entry qualifications, with the result that workers range from school dropouts to holders of academic degrees. Despite the growing relevance of academic degrees (Apitzsch and Piotti, 2012), especially in leading positions (i.e. heads of department), careers are developed from project to project.…”

“…Especially with regard to the highly skilled independent contractors with a comfortable labor market position due to their specific expertise, the role of staffing agencies could differ too. Regarding a different context, previous research in the film industry has implied a variety of functions, ranging from employment-related recruitment issues and negotiation of salaries and other working conditions to coordination of film production and promotion of filmmakers’ careers (Apitzsch and Piotti, 2012; Bielby and Bielby, 1999; Tailby, 2005).…”

Development dynamics within creative media industries: the case of television and digital media in Wales

“…Activity in the television and digital media sector in the UK continues to be dominated by London‐based enterprises; however, the sector is also significant in a number of different British regions (Turok ; Jayne ; Taylor ; Johns ; Cooke and Porter ). While the particular pattern of development may differ, there is also similar interest about the regional basis of this and related sectors in a number of other countries (Mossig ; Bathelt ; Bathelt and Gräf ; Tremblay and Cecilli ; van der Groep ; Apitzsch and Piotti ).…”

“…Consistently, policy‐makers attempt to capture local benefits from the globalized and mobile television and digital media industry, and an explicit interest in clustering has been influential in developing support policies for the sector (see e.g. Bassett et al ; Pratt ; Apitzsch and Piotti ).…”