Abstract
During the past two decades, the exhibition industry in China has been developing rapidly and has become an important part of the modern service industry, particularly the agglomeration characteristics of exhibition enterprises highlighted on the regional scale. Although the development of theoretical research on the western exhibition industry has taken place over time, the spatial perspective has not been at the centre of attention so far. This paper aims to fill this gap and report on the agglomeration characteristics of exhibition enterprises and their influential factors. Based on data about exhibition enterprises in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) during 1991–2013, using the Ripley K function analysis and kernel density estimation, this research identifies that: 1) the exhibition enterprise on the regional scale is significantly characterized by spatial agglomeration, and the agglomeration density and scale are continuously increasing; 2) the spatial pattern of agglomeration has developed from a single-center to multi-center form. Meanwhile, this paper profiles the factors influencing the spatial agglomeration of exhibition enterprises by selecting the panel data of nine cities in the PRD in 1999, 2002, 2006 and 2013. The results show that market capacity, urban informatization level and exhibition venues significantly influence the location choice of exhibition enterprises. Among them, the market capacity is a variable that exerts a far greater impact than other factors do.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bathelt H, Turi P, 2011. Local, global and virtual buzz: the importance of face-to-face contact in economic interaction and possibilities to go beyond. Geoforum, 42: 520–529. doi: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2011.04.007
Bathelt H, 2012. International trade fairs and world cities: temporary vs. permanent clusters. Inernational Handbook of Globalization and World Cities, 177–187. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Bathelt H, Spigel B, 2012. The spatial economy of North American trade fairs. The Canadian Geographer, 56(1): 18–38. doi: 10.1111/j.1541-0064.2011.00396.x
Bathelt H, Gibson R, 2015. Learning in ‘organized anarchies’: The nature of technological search processes at trade fairs. Regional Studies, 49(6): 985–1002. doi: 10.1080/00343404.2013. 783691
Bathelt H, Zeng G, 2014. The development of trade fair ecologies in China: case studies from Chengdu and Shanghai. Environment and Planning A, 46(3): 511–530. doi: 10.1068/a45661
Bathelt H, Schuldt N, 2008. Between luminaries and meat grinders: international trade fairs as temporary clusters. Regional Studies, 42(6): 853–868. doi: 10.1080/00343400701543298
Berke O, 2004. Exploratory disease mapping: kriging the spatial risk function from regional count data. International Journal of Health Geography, 3(1): 18. doi: 10.1186/1476-072X-3-18
Besag J, 1977. Comments on Ripley’s paper. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B, 39: 193–195.
Blanca M M, Luis H O, Rafael B, 2012. The importance of creative industry agglomerations in explaining the wealth of European regions. European Planning Studies, 20(8): 1263–1280. doi: 10.1080/09654313.2012.680579
Chan L Y, Lin H L, Wang C L, 2012. Industry-region position and economic performance of travel and tourism service industry: an agglomeration perspective. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 17(5): 562–576. doi: 10.1080/10941665.2011. 627928
Chen Jianjun, Chen Guoliang, Huang Jie, 2009. Agglomeration on producer services and its affecting factors from the view of new economic geography: the empirical analyses based on the 222 cities in China. Management World, (4): 83–95. (in Chinese)
Coffey W, Drolet R, Polese M, 1996. The intrametropolitan location of high order services: patterns, factors and mobility in montreal. Papers in Regional Science, 75(6): 293–323. doi: 10.1007/BF02406756
Dai Guangquan, Chen Xin, 2010. Spatial-temporal features of Chinese exhibition industry: a study based on the Content Analysis of WebPages. Geographical Research, 29(12): 2143–2154. (in Chinese)
Fang Zhongquan, Guo Siying, 2013. Analysis on the micro-agglomeration of exhibition enterprises: a case of Liuhua area in Guangzhou. Economic Geography, 33(8): 1636–1647. (in Chinese)
Fang Zhongquan, 2013. The agglomerate characteristics and influencing factors of exhibition enterprises in Guangzhou. Acta Geographica Sinica, 68(4): 464–476. (in Chinese)
Hong Jin, Yu Wentao, Guo Xiumei, 2014. Creative industries agglomeration, regional innovation and productivity growth in China. Chinese Geographical Science, 24(2): 258–268. doi: 10.1007/s11769-013-0617-6
Jed K, 1999. Can I get some service here? Information technology, service industries and the future of cities. SSRN Working Paper Series, Nov.
Jin Yu, Chen Zhao, Lu Ming, 2006. Industry agglomeration in China: economic geography, new economic geography and policy. Economic Research Journal, (4): 79–89. (in Chinese)
Jin X, Weber K, Bauer T, 2012. Impact of clusters on exhibition destination attractiveness: Evidence from mainland China. Tourism Management, 33: 1429–1439. doi: 10.1016/j.tourman. 2012.01.005
Ju Hang, Tian Jinxin, 2006. Research on development distribution and innovation model of convention and exhibition industry. China Soft Science, (11): 131–136. (in Chinese)
Ke S Z, He M, Yuan C H, 2014. Synergy and co-agglomeration of producer services and manufacturing: a panel data analysis of Chinese cities. Regional Studies, 48(11): 1829–1841. doi: 10.1080/00343404.2012.756580
Lee K D, Hwang S J, 2014. Regional heterogeneity and location choice of FDI in Korea via agglomeration and linkage relationships. Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, 19(3): 464–487. doi: 10.1080/13547860.2014.908535
Li Jiaming, Zhang Wenzhong, Yu Jianhui, 2015. Industrial spatial agglomeration using distance-based approach in Beijing, China. Chinese Geographical Science, 25(6): 698–712. doi: 10.1007/s11769-015-0770-1
Li Pengfei, 2014. Global temporary networks of clusters: structures and dynamics of trade fairs in Asian economies. Journal of Economic Geography, (14): 995–1021. doi: 10.1093/jeg/1bu009
Li Wenxiu, Yu Dan, 2011. An empirical research on the spatial distribution of exhibition industry in China based on geography. Journal of Capital University of Economics and Business, (5): 40–47. (in Chinese)
Quah D, 2001. ICT clusters in development: theory and evidence. LES Economics Department, Working Paper, February.
Ramirez-Pasillas M, 2011. International trade fairs as amplifiers of permanent and temporary proximities in clusters. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 22(2): 155–187. doi: 1080/08985620902815106
Ren Yinghua, You Wanhai, Xu Ling, 2011. Spatial statistical analysis of formation mechanism of modern service industry agglomeration. Human Geography, 26(1): 82–86. (in Chinese)
Ren Guoyan, 2014. The agglomeration characteristics and influencing factors of exhibition venues in Yangtze River Delta. Economic Geography, 34(9): 86–92. (in Chinese)
Rinallo D, Golfetto F, 2011. Exploring the knowledge strategies of temporary cluster organizers: A longitudinal study of the EU Fabric Industry Trade Shows (1986-2006). Economic Geography, 87(4): 453–476. doi: 10.1111/j.1944-8287.2011. 01127.x
Schuldt N, Bathelt H, 2011. International trade fairs and global buzz. Part II: Practices of global buzz. European Planning Studies, 19(1): 1–22. doi: 10.1080/09654313.2011.530390
Silverman B W, 1986. Density Estimation for Statistics and Data Analysis. New York: Chapman and Hall.
Valentina M, Maria S, 2015. The determinants of regional specialization in business services: agglomeration economies, vertical linkages and innovation. Journal of Economic Geography, 15(2): 387–416. doi: 10.1093/jeg/lbt038
Wouter J, Hans R A, Frank V O, 2014. Co-agglomeration of knowledge-intensive business services and multinational enterprises. Journal of Economic Geography. 14(2): 443–475. doi: 10.1093/jeg/lbs055
Yang Xin, Jin Limei, 2014. The spatio-temporal characteristics of exhibition industry in China. Economic Geography, 34(8): 96–102. (in Chinese)
Zhu Haisen, 2004. Study and inspiration on the spatial distribution of overseas MICE industry. Human Geography, 19(5): 93–96. (in Chinese)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Foundation item: Under the auspices of Humanities and Social Science Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (No.10YJA790047), Funding Project for Academic Human Resources Development in Beijing Union University
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fang, Z., Zhang, Y., Wang, Z. et al. Spatial agglomeration of exhibition enterprises on a regional scale in China. Chin. Geogr. Sci. 27, 497–506 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-017-0879-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-017-0879-5