Co-evolution of firms, industries and networks in space

Anne L.J. ter Wal () and Ron Boschma

No 707, Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) from Utrecht University, Section of Economic Geography

Abstract: The cluster literature suffers from a number of shortcomings: (1) by and large, cluster studies do not take into account that firms in a cluster are heterogeneous in terms of capabilities; (2) cluster studies tend to overemphasize the importance of place and geographical proximity and underestimate the role of networks which are, by definition, a-spatial entities; (3) most, if not all cluster studies have a static nature, and do not address questions like the origins and evolution of clusters. Our aim is to overcome these shortcomings and propose a theoretical framework on the evolution of clusters. Bringing together bodies of literature on clusters, industrial dynamics, the evolutionary theory of the firm and network theory, we describe how clusters co-evolve with: (1) the industry they adhere to; (2) the (dynamic) capabilities of the firms they contain; and (3) the industry-wide knowledge network they are part of. Based on this framework, we believe the analysis of cluster evolution provides a promising research agenda in evolutionary economic geography for the years to come.

Keywords: cluster evolution; network dynamics; industrial dynamics; co-evolution; evolutionary economic geography (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent, nep-geo, nep-ino, nep-knm, nep-net, nep-soc and nep-ure
Date: 2007-08, Revised 2007-08
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:egu:wpaper:0707

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