Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
particular localities. He was among the i rst to provide rather detailed descriptions of the
sources of concentration of specialised industries in particular localities. Based on his
work, the emergence of clusters has been explained by the existence of location-specii c
externalities, such as (1) economies of specialisation caused by a concentration of i rms
being able to attract and support specialised suppliers, (2) economies of labour pooling,
where the existence of a labour force with particular knowledge and skills attracts i rms,
which in turn attract and create more specialised labour, and (3) knowledge externalities,
where knowledge and information l ow more easily between actors located in a cluster
than over long distances, which all lead to the existence of increasing returns to scale for
i rms located in clusters. Other factors have been added, such as unique local culture,
regional capabilities, tacit knowledge, and favourable factor conditions. Porter (1998)
explains the emergence by interaction between parts of his diamond (context for i rm
strategy and rivalry, factor conditions, demand conditions, and related and supporting
industries) that are present in a location because of historical circumstances. He adds
that chance events seen in its historical and locational context are important for the birth
of clusters. As a result, the early growth process remains exceptional for each cluster.
Other studies have searched for the explanation in the founding of the i rst i rm, with a
focus on why the founder decided to set up a i rm in a particular location. Accordingly,
each cluster becomes a unique story, which makes it harder to generalise from anecdo-
tal stories of founders' personal preferences, luck and 'foresightedness'. These studies
often take a long look back in history. An example is the analysis of the French plastics
injection-moulding cluster in Oyannax that can be traced back to the year 630, when the
city was given a monopoly to make wooden combs (van der Linde, 2003). In the nine-
teenth century, they shifted from wooden to celluloid combs. In the 1930s, combs fell
out of fashion and some unemployed craftsmen started production of plastics toys, and
so on. In 1936, they adopted injection-moulding and became a French centre of plastics
manufacturing. However, this story tells us very little about how and why the plastics
cluster emerged. The problem with tracing back to the initial event that started a process
that led to clustering is that the explanation often becomes colourful, but the causality
remains blurred. In the case of Oyannax, the link between the regional industrial history
of comb-making and the plastics cluster could be an ef ect of the geographical dimension
of entrepreneurial activity, since entrepreneurs tend to start up their business where they
live (Sorenson, 2003).
The distinction between what are the driving forces behind the emergence of clusters
and what are related to the evolution of regional capabilities is not clear. According to
Maskell et al. (1998), each region has a set of capabilities that consist of the institutional
background, the structure of the industry, natural resources, knowledge and skills. These
have been developed through a historical interactive process and further evolution relies
on the creation, utilisation and reproduction of knowledge. Firms in an emerging cluster
inl uence the region through creation of and demand for skills and knowledge, but the
i rms are also af ected by the existing structure and institutions in the region (Storper,
1997; Storper and Walker, 1989).
Following this argument, the founding of the i rst cluster i rm is often seen as being
set in a particular geographical location by chance (Arthur, 1990). Historical and chance
events would have provided a location structure; and that inherited structure combined
with agglomeration tendencies would determine the future settlements in a region. New
