Lock-in, a way to enable regional economic resilience? Insights from Baotou, China
通过中国包头的案例，研究了锁定机制如何在新冠疫情期间和硅产业发展中发挥促进区域经济韧性的作用，识别了功能性、认知性和政治性锁定的赋能角色。
Abstract By examining a case study of Baotou, China, this article demonstrates how lock-in performed an enabling role for regional economic resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic and the silicon industrial path development. The enabling functions of Baotou's lock-in with the steel industry were performed through the collective agencies in mitigating shortages of labour and raw materials, seeking external varieties and redeploying local resources under a recovery, as well as a reorientation process. This article identifies that functional, cognitive and political lock-in could facilitate the forming of collective agencies and enhance their capabilities and, therefore, play an enabling role in Baotou's economic resilience. This research contributes to the existing literature by enlarging the understanding of lock-in by exploring its relation to regional economic resilience and identifying its enabling roles.