University of MariborUniversity of MariborFaculty of ArtsFaculty of Arts

Transformation ProcessesTransformation Processes

of the Industrial Area in of the Industrial Area in MariborMaribor

Ass. prof. Lučka LorberAss. prof. Lučka Lorber

E-mail:lucka.lorber@uni-mb.siE-mail:lucka.lorber@uni-mb.si

Industrial development in Maribor

• Industrial development in Slovenia was closely correlated to the development of Austro-Hungarian state, although Slovenia already had some important mines and manufacturing shops in the beginning of the industrial era.

•During the manufacturing-industrial period, 19.1% of all companies of the Slovenian territory were located in Maribor. The companies were run predominantly by foreign-owned capital mostly by owners from the centres in Vienna, Graz and Trieste.

•With the abolition of feudal relationships in 1848, building of railways, administrative inclusion of suburbia and with building of railway workshops in 1863, the administrative, commercial and industrial development of Maribor began. Its population grew by 14 times in 100 years. Rapid development caused Maribor to urbanize hastily.

Period 1918 - 1941

TABOR

till 1925

1926-30

1931-35

1936-41

PERIOD :

PEKRE

RADVANJE

TEZNO

POBREŽJESTUDENCI

MELJE

KOŠAKI

Lorber, 2006

Figure 1. First industrial zones

After the World War I, in the period between 1918 and 1945, the development in the newly formed state redeployed from food-, leather- and timber industries to textile- and metal industries. Maribor became the first Yugoslav centre of textile and metal industry[1]. Based on the development of classic industrial branches the first industrial zones Melje, Tezno and Studenci were formed.

[1] At the end of 1938, Maribor had 27 textile factories where 6,293 workers were employed or in other words 35.7 % of all Slovenian textile workers. The metal industry of the time employed 3,700 workers.

Maribor after the World War II

•After the World War II, in the socialist administrative-centralistic era (1945-1952), the most intensive economic development of the city followed. •The process of nationalisation, performed in years 1946 and 1948, brought the nationalisation of sixty larger and smaller industrial companies. •Electrification and development of hydroenergetic system on the River Drava enabled the enhancement of production capacity and development of new industrial branches. •Until 1952, thirteen industrial branches evolved in the city. In the 1952, metal industry took the leading role with 48.2 % of all industrial workers while textile industry with its 33.6 % of workers generated the largest share of national income of the city industry. Timber industry with 6.2 % and the production and processing of electric energy with 3.8 % of employees in Maribor industry were following. •In the socio-economic circumstances of that era, a distinctly unilateral economic structure arose in Maribor having emphasis on production of vehicles, means of production, investment equipment and textile.

Maribor in sixties

TABOR

PERIOD till 1991

PEKRE

RADVANJE

TEZNO

POBREŽJESTUDENCI

MELJE

KOŠAKI

Lorber, 2006

In the sixties, Maribor industrial sector reached its mature stage of development. Metal industry with 45 %, textile with 19.8 % and electrotechnical industry with 9.5 % were still holding the leading position. Three new industrial branches arose: non-ferrous metal industry, building-material industry and production of petroleum products. The after-war industrial development was based mainly upon extending of traditional industrial branches.

Maribor in seventies and eighties

In the period of self-government economy (1952-1989), the state interfered with the organisation of business systems by its political moves. Economic policy of the socialist system had not allowed timely restructuring of classic industry in compliance with the requirements of market economy and of new economies that began to evolve in the European area in the 1960s.

In the seventies, Maribor industrial sector entered the phase of stagnation and falling behind the pace of development in the rest of Slovenia. Investments in that period are decreasing; typical are self-sufficiency, self-confinedness and fragmentation of industrial companies as well as their technological obsoleteness.

The eighties delineate regression regarding the Maribor economy which is showing in cessation of population growth, reduction of employment positions, decreased share of national product and in level of new investments which was below the republic average.

Revenue share of Maribor economy in RS revenues in the period 1986-

2004

02468

1012

19861987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

199419951996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

Revenue share of Maribor economy in RS revenues

Source: SDK, APP, APPI, AJPES, author’s calculations.

Maribor economy experienced a rapid decline of industrial production in the end of 80s because of its unpreparedness for social and economic changes that followed.

The structure of Maribor industrial sector was based upon capitally expensive structure and upon limited structure in terms of income. It was concentrated in giants which had reached their climax in the sixties. After this period, a constant decline of national product in the national product of Slovenia followed.

The trend of revenues in individual sectors of Maribor economy

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

Industry Constuction

Transport and communication Trade

Financial intermediation Other activities

After 1991, some major changes occurred in Maribor economy regarding the structure of industrial companies, the structure of economic revenues and in production according to sectors of activity.

The share of the industrial sector in the Maribor economy revenue was falling rapidly in the period from 1989 through 1991 while the decline was somewhat slower after 1991. The fall in industrial production plays a leading role in economic recession of Maribor compared to the republic.

The trend of revenue shares in the sector of manufacturing activities

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

DA DB DJ DL DM Others

The main disturbance in the Maribor manufacturing activities occurred in the few year period before gaining independence and the first years after that. It is thus typical for Maribor economy to have experienced a shock as early as in 1988, the year of crucial political events that eventually brought to the disintegration of Yugoslavia. The production share in the sector of manufacturing of transport equipment (DM) began to fall drastically. The Yugoslav Army ceased to buy from Maribor companies almost entirely in the 1988.

The first phase of 1988-1995 – crisis in the sector of transport equipment manufacturing

(DM)

The first phase (1988-1995) was the beginning of the crisis in the companies that produced commercial vehicles and which also included dedicated production for the purposes of the Yugoslav Army.

Consequence was the falling share of revenue in this sector DM from 34.9 percent in the year 1987 to 3.1 percent in the year 1995.

Boris Kidrič

TAM

↑Graz

Ljubljana ↓Zagreb

The second phase, 1992-1996 – the crisis in the manufacture of machinery and equipment (DK) and manufacture of electrical machinery and

equipment (DL)

The second phase (1992-1996) delineated the crisis in the companies producing investment equipment. It was typical of these companies to have been operating mainly in the common Yugoslav market and, together with the large state-owned companies, in the foreign markets of the Third World.

At the same time, the employees from these working environments were the main holders of constitution of small enterprises – both, those production- as well as those service-oriented.

Metalna

Elektrokovina

The third phase, 1994-2005 – the crisis in the textile sector

Third phase (1995-2006) delineates the crisis in companies in the textile sector (DB). This sector experienced three critical periods. The first period was the year 1995 when more than 25 % of all jobs in this sector were cancelled, while in the 1998 over 30 % of the remaining jobs were also cancelled; thus, the number of the employees decreased to under 2,000 employees for the first time. The last crisis is placed in the years 2004 and 2005 when additional 300 jobs were lost.

MTT

Svila

MTT

Merinka

Conclusion

The essence of restructuring processes in Maribor economy is in adaptation to circumstances on the global market. Economic goals of long-term growth of added value and productivity should be followed in pursuance of assuring competitiveness.

Urban design of Maribor is focused on additional construction of free and unused urban surfaces and on rounding-up of industrial-business zones that will have the adequate infrastructural equipment and appropriate connections to transport corridors. Protection of environment and humanization of life are future development perspectives that will ensure a more qualitative urban image of the city and improve residing of its inhabitants.