Management Science and Research September 2013, Volume 2, Issue 3, PP.31-34
Study on the Role of Creative Industries in Urban Competitiveness Da Deng Business School, China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing, 102249, China #Email: dengdadengda@sina.com
Abstract To achieve a new round of economic growth at this stage, it is impossible for cities to continue with resource-based and dependent development model. Based on intellectual capital and creativity, creative industries are of particular importance to the goal to city sustainable development. This paper analyzes the roles creative industries play-changing the model of economic growth, optimizing industrial structure, innovation and economic operation system, upgrading the overall competitiveness of the region. View of this article is that the development of creative industries has gone beyond its significance as a new industry format of the industry level, which is the realization of urban competitiveness and development leaps and bounds in an effective way. Keywords: City Economy; Creative Industries; Urban Competitiveness; Optimizing the Industrial Structure
1 INTRODUCTION The DCMS Mapping Documents in 1998[1] identified thirteen different creative sectors[2], and first officially defined the creative industries as “those industries which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have a potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property�. As a result, UK has the largest creative sector in the European Union and probably the largest in the world relative to GDP [3]. Recent research commissioned by NESTA showed that the creative industries have grown strongly in rural regions too, although they accounted for a smaller share of economic activity than those in urban areas[4]. Creative industries were formally introduced to China for only a few years. In recent years, governments and the business community in the developed areas have actively promoted the rapid growth of the creative industries, with a number of creative industries bases built in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and other cities. Based on the literature review of creative industries, this paper analyzes the roles creative industries play -investment in resource conservation, changing the model of economic growth, optimizing industrial structure, innovation and economic operation system, upgrading the overall competitiveness of the region. View of this article is that the development of creative industries has gone beyond its significance as a new industry format of the industry level, which is the realization of urban competitiveness and development leaps and bounds in an effective way.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW Synthesis of existing research, Yusuf S believed that the creative industries with high added value compared to traditional industries increase the value of the scale of production channels. The creative industries do not need too much land, and its prosperity mainly depends on cultural and creative investment in high value of their products [5]. The research department of Hong Kong Arts Development Council believed that the creative industries, put more emphasis on the quality of labor, than any other service industry that employs a higher proportion of professionals, but also complex, skills of the labor-intensive [4]. Cunningham and few of the creative industries and other industries in the relationship between the characteristics of creative industries created more and more products to the industry as inputs into the other industries (services, manufacturing industries and even the first) [6]. Ji xinfeng analyzed the relationship between industrial clusters and resource-conserving mode of production, from the point of direct savings approach as well as the indirect savings approach of industry clusters[7]. Zhanghui, Xi - 31 www.ivypub.org/MSR
Yongqin put forward the concept of resource-conserving industry clusters and explored industrial clusters study on the connotation, the construction, the mode of operation and so on[8]. Dujianjun defined the meanings and pointed out the necessity of resource-conserving industrial structure through analysis of the resources and utilization status [9]. From the perspective of scientific and technological innovation, Yinhong discussed the interaction between the creative industries and the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure, questing for the economic significance of the developments of creative industries[10]. To sum up, the current domestic and international research on the creative industries has just started. Because of the different environment of the researchers, there isn't a well accepted concept on the creative industries, remaining mostly qualitative phase analysis and very few models quantitative analysis. The study on the relationship between creative industries and urban competitiveness has just been put forward.
3 THE ROLE OF CREATIVE INDUSTRIES TO URBAN COMPETITIVENESS This paper analyzes the roles creative industries play-changing the model of economic growth, optimizing industrial structure, innovation and economic operation system, upgrading the overall competitiveness of the region.
3.1 To enhance the Comprehensive Competitiveness of the City through Industrial Clustering Effect In the context of globalization, city has become the main body of the countries involved in international competition. With its powerful creativity, creative industries stimulate the urban vitality, and constitute a major source of urban competitiveness. This is a common practice all over the world to combine the development of creative industries to urban competitiveness. In addition to London and New York, Singapore, Taiwan, Shanghai, Hong Kong and other countries and regions also shouted the slogan of building a global or regional innovation center. The development of creative industries has played a significant role in enhancing the competitiveness of cities. Creative industries clusters play an important role in economic externalities, technological innovation advantages, cluster-based learning and self-development capacity of clusters, and also have a significant industry association effect and revenue, which is conducive to the benign development of the recycling economy. As an effective path of the city’s endogenous growth, the development of creative industries will gradually enhance the self-worth capacity in order to establish sustainable and effective urban competitiveness mechanism. From China's actual situation, facing with the constraints of limited resources, the traditional urban business model is very difficult to continue for relying on the stock of assets. It is the only way to the creative leap in the city through the development of creative industries to gain competitive advantage based on the creation of incremental high-level resources. After the formation of urban competitiveness, based on the incremental creation and institutional innovation, it will help the city with truly sustainable urban development, shaking off the shackles of the traditional operating mode of consumption of resources.
3.2 To Optimize the City Industrial Structure With the basic characteristics of innovation, creative industries can not only significantly improve the added value of industrial economy; but greatly facilitate further optimization of industrial structure and adjustment. The model that creative industries promote the structural optimization is based on the perspective of the industrial integration, which is a new driving force for economic growth [12]. Integration has promoted industrial innovation directly, based on the new industries and new products which become new growth points of the economic development. It has not only accelerated the upgrading pace of the industrial structure, but also enabled enterprises to gain more business opportunities and markets, which led to the continued prosperity of the economy as a whole [11]. The development of creative industries can be understood as an integration of culture, science technology and economy, which is built to provide consumers with highly personalized creative product. With the accelerated process of industrialization, information technology and globalization, created by the era of knowledge economy, the creative industries have been treated as a high-end part of the industry chain, and also as independent sunrise industries, leading industries and services industries, and its clients are in their low-end industries. Innovation, as the core of the creative industries, is the driving force for the optimization and upgrading of - 32 www.ivypub.org/MSR
industrial structure. Creative industries whose fundamental characteristic is innovation, also has a strong correlation effects and spill-over effects, which may trigger a new round of changes in the industry and even the Industrial Revolution, leading to the realization of industrial mutation-a fundamental structure of restructuring and upgrading. Therefore, the role of creative industries upgrading industrial structure, is mainly manifested in two aspects: first, a direct form of creative industries existing independently, as the leading industries of the national economy; second, the transformation of traditional industries through the infiltrative way, to lengthen the industries’ life cycle through the extension of product life cycle.
3.3 To Change the Model of City Economic Growth Traditional economic growth is assumed as a function of the traditional factors of production inputs, physical capital, labor, land and entrepreneurs so as to target economies of scale. The traditional extensive mode of economic development usually consumes a large amount of material resources, especially energy, in which the cost of the growth is the gradual disappearance of natural resources and deteriorating environment. The environmental resources and capital constraints become the bottleneck of city economic development; and creative industries, the most significant feature of which is to encourage the release of individual creativity of the infinite, will create a new product and new market demands, break the hard constraints of the traditional resources, as it can open up new channels and space for economic development through a variety of capital management transformed from creative resources , in this specific model the creative industries promote economic growth pattern[11]. This model is based on understanding of the breadth and dynamic resources, to give full play to the creativity and grasp of the market, in practice, which requires Multi-transformation from resources to capital and market. Thus, around the world in recent years, the rapid rise of the creative industries is not only regarded as the birth of a new type of industry, but also as a new and powerful means to promote economic growth while a wider cultural produce as the elements of production.
3.4 To Promote the Resource-conserving Consumption by Value Enhancement Creative industries are not only source of high value-added industries as well as product creators of the concept of value. The value enhancing model based on the perspective of value chain integration and decomposition can advance the added value of the products through the integration of the industry value chain; as well as the concept value of products through the decomposition of the value chain. Generally speaking, the concept value creates the differences, and possesses great profit margins. Empirical research of Professor Xi Kaiyuan from the University of Chicago Business School also showed that in terms of 3000 U.S. dollars per capita income, the correlation between the utility and the value dropped to 2% below, that is, people are willing to pay more money for the concept value or utility than the function value of the commodity. The concept value is embodied in these enormous different prices, reflecting in the subjective feelings of consumers, which formed the consumption will save a lot of resources. The development of creative industries will be able to be achieved through the concept value, and thus the spirit utility maximization of the consumer, with a sense of wellbeing and happiness.
4 CONCLUSIONS In order to improve urban competitiveness, it is impossible for the cities to stick to resource-based and dependent development model. There should be a fundamental change in the mode of growth and the structure of growth. Under the guidance of the scientific development concept, it must be referred to the strategic height to create "a conservation-minded society" and " a creative state". Of its basic meaning, first, the focus is on enhancing the capability of independent innovation and developing our own core technologies to accelerate the achievement of economic growth mode from factor-driven to innovation-driven fundamental change; second, the idea of saving should be rooted in the various fields of production, circulation, consumption and the whole social life on the smallest possible consumption of resources and environmental costs, to obtain the greatest possible economic and social benefits. - 33 www.ivypub.org/MSR
Obviously, taking the creative industries as the backbone, a knowledge-based tertiary industry based on creative activity is both substances of low or non-polluting and high value-added industries, and high-cultural connotation of innovation-based industries. The development of this industry will turn the creative ideas into enormous economic, cultural, social wealth. It will be our best choice to promote the city and nation by building up a resource-conserving society, to take an innovative path of sustainable development, and to greatly enhance the comprehensive competitiveness of the city and the nation. Taking an overview of the status quo of the research and the practice abroad, there is still a bright future prospect in the future. The following areas need to be strengthened and deepened including the establishment of appropriate classification system of the creative industries, comparative studies of international experience, empirical studies of the developed cities, and research on the global value chain of creative industries.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research was supported by the China University of Political Science and Law Science Research Projects, research on the creative industries and creative class.
REFERENCES [1]
Creative Industries Mapping Document 1998 [Online], London: DCMS. Available at: http://www.culture.gov.uk
[2]
The thirteen sectors as defined by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in 1998 are: advertising; architecture; the art and antiques market; crafts; design; designer fashion; film; interactive leisure software; music; the performing arts; publishing; software and computer services; and television and radio.
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The Work Foundation, Staying Ahead: The economic performance of the UK’s creative industries (R), London: The Work Foundation.
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Mahroum S, Rural innovation (R),London: NESTA(2007)
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Hall P, Creative cities and economic development (J). Urban Studies,.37(4) (2000), p.639–649.
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Zhang Hui, Xi Yongqin, A conservation-industry cluster - the connotation and the mode of operation (J), Industrial Technology & Economy, 03 (2008). (in Chinese)
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Du Jianjun, Building a conservation-oriented industrial structur (J), Sci-Tech Information Development & Economy, 06 (2007). (in Chinese)
[10] Yin Hong, On the interaction between the creative industries and the industrial structure-- based on the scientific and technological innovation (J), Social Sciences in Yunnan, 03 (2007). (in Chinese) [11] Li Wuwei, Wang Huimin, Creative industry promoting the changing of the ways of economic growth (J), China Industrial Economy, 11 (2006). (in Chinese) [12] Zhou Zhenhua, Industrial convergence: New power of industrial development and economic growth (J), China Industrial Economy. 04 (2003). (in Chinese) [13] Caves R, Creative industries: contracts between art and commerce [M], Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press (2000). [14] Howkins. J, The creative economy: how people make money from ideas [M], Allen Lane: The Penguin Press (2001). [15] Yusuf S, Nabeshima K. Creative industries in east Asia. Cities, ,22(2)(2005)
AUTHOR Da Deng, Ph. D in management, Associate Professor, works in the School of Business, China University of Political Science & Law, Beijing, China. Teach Principles of Economics, Modern Economic Theory and Project Management as undergraduate, graduate and MBA courses. Major Field of study is creative industries and industry economy. A large number of Research results have been published, such as Project Management of Modern Cultural Industry, Beijing, China Machine Press, 2004, Creative industries Under national innovation strategy, Beijing, Culture and Art Publishing House, 2010
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