Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
12 Clusters, networks and economic development: an
evolutionary economics perspective
Elisa Giuliani
1. Introduction
This chapter explores the relationship between networks and economic development
in geographical clusters of i rms,
1
by developing a conceptual framework based on
evolutionary economics (Dosi, 1988; Nelson and Winter, 1982). This is an important
issue in economic geography because industrial clusters have come to play an increas-
ingly central role in the analysis of economic growth and competitiveness of countries
(Krugman, 1991; Porter, 1998) and in the debate between convergent versus divergent
economic growth (Martin and Sunley, 1998). In a context of increased trade liberalisa-
tion, in fact, processes of Marshallian (1920) industrial localisation are believed to fuel
the emergence of 'growth poles' or successful clusters (Porter, 1998). This is often associ-
ated with the fact that i rms operating in clusters are likely to generate a socio-economic
environment, characterised by dense inter-i rm networks, which enhances their likeli-
hood to innovate.
The importance of networks in regional clusters has been emphasised by several schol-
ars since the beginning of the 1980s (e.g. Camagni, 1991; Piore and Sabel, 1984; Scott,
1988). Part of these studies has focused on the analysis of social and business relations
among economic actors located within clusters and has given emphasis to the role of
the territory, which, via its localised networks, inl uences the innovative behaviour and
performance of i rms.
2
This focus became predominant in the 1990s, up to the point that,
in a recent contribution, Boggs and Rantisi (2003) argued that economic geography, as
a i eld of studies, has undertaken a 'relational turn', which pays more attention to link-
ages than to geography per se. The relational turn implies a micro-centred approach to
analysis, which looks at i rms and their interrelations and emphasises that 'economic
actors themselves produce their regional environments' (Bathelt and Glückler, 2003,
p. 123). Thus, during the 1990s, the emergence of successful clusters or districts became
increasingly associated with the presence of localised networks, and with a local insti-
tutional thickness that lowers transaction costs and favours the dif usion of knowledge
(e.g. Lawson and Lorenz, 1999; Rabellotti, 1999; Saxenian, 1994).
The relational turn in economic geography has introduced two types of question,
which are, generally speaking, still open for investigation and can be fruitfully explored
via an evolutionary approach. The i rst one has to do with the understanding of the
(causal) relationship between the behaviour of individual actors - such as i rms - and
the networks they are capable of generating at the local level.
3
It is now a commonly
acknowledged fact that i rms are heterogeneous in their internal capabilities (Dosi, 1988)
and their (relational) behaviour may shape the evolution of a territory (on this, see e.g.
Lazerson and Lorenzoni, 1999; Markusen, 2003; Martin and Sunley, 2003; Maskell,
2001); as suggested by Bathelt and Glückler (2003) in fact 'sometimes, even one large
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