Firms and territories : the 'je t'aime, moi non plus' syndrome

Firms and territories have ambivalent and complex relationships, both with regard to the diverse reasoning upon which they are founded and in the multitude of determining factors which are involved. The determining factors of economic dynamism are more subtle than the traditional criteria of geographic location as are the cost or quality of the resources, the sums allocated for infrastructure, and so on. Pierre Veltz tackles the question of the relationships between firms and territories from the viewpoint of French economic geography and its evolution during the course of the last fifty years. He then highlights the main logical lines of thought which are the basis of these relationships, and the diversity of situations of which they are a part. His assessment that the mechanisms of local development cannot be made into models since they implicate social, organisational and historic processes, raises the question of the role of public authorities in such processes.