Performance differentials within geographic clusters

Brian T. McCann and Timothy B. Folta

Journal of Business Venturing, 2011, vol. 26, issue 1, 104-123

Abstract: Increasing evidence indicates that firms benefit from a location in a geographic cluster of similar firms. The literature is nearly silent, however, on whether agglomeration economies accrue symmetrically across clustered firms. Drawing from the knowledge-based view, we investigate which firms benefit most from agglomeration and discuss how the implications for entrepreneurs are significant if some firms benefit more from geographic agglomeration than others. We investigate three particular firm attributes that may accentuate or mitigate benefits tied to participation in a cluster. We test our hypotheses on a sample of biotechnology firms and find strong evidence that firms benefit asymmetrically. Younger firms and firms with higher knowledge stocks benefit more from agglomeration.

Keywords: Geographic; clusters; Agglomeration; Externalities; Biotechnology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (93)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883-9026(09)00041-X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbvent:v:26:y:2011:i:1:p:104-123

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Business Venturing is currently edited by S. Venkataraman

More articles in Journal of Business Venturing from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().