The reputation-building process and spatial strategies of creative industries: A case study of product design firms in Taipei
通过对台北产品设计公司的35次深度访谈，研究了创意产业如何通过本地优势与跨本地设计展会和竞赛的联结来构建声誉，并揭示了其空间策略对后发城市设计产业发展的启示。
Extant research has increasingly recognized that local reputation determines creative firms’ competitiveness. However, current research over-emphasizes that the spatial cluster facilitates the innovation dynamic of creative industries rather than investigating whether the trans-local dynamic of trade fairs and competitions underpins the reputation-building process of local creative industries. This paper contributes to exploring the reputation-building process and spatial strategy of creative industries through a case study of product design firms in Taipei. Drawing on a qualitative methodology, this paper analyses 35 in-depth interviews with product design company executives, concluding that the spatial strategy of product design firms situated in the Taipei city context must acknowledge local strategic advantage and increasingly build a reputation through connections to trans-local design fairs and competitions. Meanwhile, the reputation-building process reflects that product design firms must capture and negotiate symbolic value through a strategic co-presence in local, regional, and global temporary event spaces. Finally, the process and strategies imply that the design industry needs a new form of intervention in latecomer cities to respond to the uneven development of the global design economy.