For regions that are deeply integrated into the global economy, the question of how
to remain competitive and resilient in times of uncertainty is a key concern. While
strategic coupling is a useful concept for understanding local-global economic dynamics,
the idea that a region can simultaneously couple into multiple production networks
organised at different spatial scales and that regional actors can increase their
autonomy by creatively combining different coupling scenarios has been little explored.
This paper explores how regional institutional innovations can facilitate such multiple
couplings. We focus on the industrial chain chief model in China's Zhejiang province,
which emerged against the backdrop of the U.S.-China trade war and the COVID-19 pandemic.
We argue that this institutional innovation offers a different way of thinking for
regions that have long been exposed to the influence of globalisation, and that it
increases the agency of local actors in global production networks.
