Regional musical theatre industries form diverse developmental pathways as cultural resources are transformed into performing arts industry ecosystems. However, existing scholarship has been concentrated on major metropolitan markets or single-case an...
Regional musical theatre industries form diverse developmental pathways as cultural resources are transformed into performing arts industry ecosystems. However, existing scholarship has been concentrated on major metropolitan markets or single-case analyses, leaving substantial theoretical gaps in understanding the formation mechanisms and pathway diversity of regional musical theatre industries. To address this gap, this study aims to investigate the development mechanisms and pathways of regional musical theatre industries through a comparative qualitative case study grounded in the interpretive empiricist paradigm, selecting Guizhou Province in southwest China and Daegu Metropolitan City in South Korea as cases under a contrasting replication design.
The analytical framework integrated four theoretical lenses: value chain theory , cluster theory , cultural identity theory , and sustainability theory . Data collection centered on semi-structured in-depth interviews with 50 stakeholders—25 per case—drawn from policy and administration, creative practitioners, production and management, and audience groups, complemented by structured field observation records, analysis of policy documents and corporate disclosures, and examination of social media and online tourism platform content, following a triangulation strategy. A dual coding system combining first-cycle structural codes with second-cycle inductive codes was adopted to pursue theory-driven analysis alongside emergent field findings. Credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability were ensured through member checking, peer debriefing, negative case analysis, and a systematic audit trail.
The findings reveal that the Guizhou case represents an exogenously driven development path led by local government policies integrating culture and tourism. The reverse-designed value chain, in which tourism demand dictates content production, along with a government-centered cluster governance structure, has been effective in achieving rapid industrial expansion and visible outcomes in the short term. However, it also exhibits structural limitations, including dependence on a single distribution channel, sensitivity to policy changes, and constraints on creative autonomy. Furthermore, cultural identity in this model is constructed through the visual representation of ethnic minority cultures, with traditional cultural elements selectively simplified to align with tourism consumption.
In contrast, the Daegu case demonstrates an endogenous, creation-centered development path shaped by the gradual evolution of public–private partnerships, particularly around the International Musical Festival. The accumulation of creative capabilities through support programs, reading performances, and educational systems has strengthened the local creative ecosystem and led to an expanding value chain extending into external markets. In this process, cultural identity is formed not through localized content itself, but through the accumulation of creative production capacity, reflecting a production-based strategy consistent with dynamic identity formation mechanisms.
The comparative analysis confirms that there is no single ideal model for regional musical theatre industry development. Instead, different developmental pathways emerge depending on the interaction among value chain design, cluster governance structures, cultural identity strategies, and policy intervention approaches. The Guizhou model offers transferable insights for designing revenue structures through tourism–performance integration, while the Daegu model provides implications for staged creative support systems and the transition toward private-sector-led governance. Furthermore, regarding the relationship between artistic and commercial values, the Guizhou model relies on pre-adjustment by external factors, whereas the Daegu model adopts sequential adjustment between the creative and market stages—a difference with distinct implications for the long-term innovation capacity and diversity of the industrial ecosystem.
This study emphasizes the importance of selective adaptation based on regional cultural resource structures and policy environments, rather than simple imitation of successful models, and proposes that policy should focus on serving as a catalyst in the early stages of industry formation while progressively expanding private-sector autonomy over time. These findings provide practical implications for regional cultural industry policymaking and the development of creative economy foundations.