Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
is mainly because in recent years, many new agencies were established and formed many
new alliances in the network. Given the limit of this study on stylized survey data it is dif-
i cult to interpret the emerging ef ect of geographical propinquity on new tie formation
appropriately. Although the picture trading business has become mostly virtual, the new
uncertainties emerging from the dynamic market environment seem to facilitate strategic
partnerships in spatial proximity. The local milieu or creative i elds (Scott, 2000) might
be argued to represent both an imprinted institutional mode of communication among
the creative professionals in a city or city region (Marquis, 2003), and a territorialized
form of culture (Maillat et al., 1995) that conveys positive communication externalities
and reduces uncertainty through more monitorable interaction. Though the associa-
tion between geography and alliance behaviour corresponds well with other empirical
evidence (Powell et al., 2005), more detailed research on the nature of sales alliances is
necessary to support the i ndings in the context of stock photography.
It is an open question for further research whether and under what conditions rapid
network expansion reproduces an imprinted structure over long times to lock-in as a
path of network evolution or whether it disrupts established patterns and creates a new
path to network growth (Martin and Sunley, 2006). The study presented here is only a
i rst and exploratory analysis toward a currently emerging i eld of evolutionary theory
on networks. For economic geography, this is a promising line of reasoning not only
because geography learns from their input but also because it may essentially contribute
to the development of solutions. If geography is a continuous constraint (or enabling
condition) for networks to form, how then do networks travel over space in the course
of their development and how do regions anchor these networks to retain their dynamics
locally?
The focus of this chapter has been on the mutual ef ects that network structure imposes
on future tie formation and, vice versa, the ef ect of new ties on the existing network
structure. For this purpose, the research strategy has focused on a more standardized,
quantitative approach to these patterns of variation over time. The specii c regional
context that rel ects in a set of interrelated institutions, the particular set of actors and
a given resource endowment will also play an important role for the understanding of
network formation in a geographical perspective. Future research should dedicate more
enquiry also to institutional aspects of geographical network evolution.
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