Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
pools with dissimilar routines or institutional patterns. Pending lock-ins are replaced by
rejuvenation processes through the activities of externally connected and absorptive
local i rms that ensure variety and create fresh impulses for horizontal learning.
In addition to micro-level processes, a cluster's life cycle account would also include
higher-order processes at the level of the cluster taken as a whole. These include, for
example, the creation of supportive institutions, local culture and the establishment of
the place as a brand of the dominant local industries. Such factors reinforce the speciali-
zation of the cluster, and by doing so they set the frame for the kind of activities that
might be possible to perform in the future in that area.
The evolutionary chain of cumulative causation favors industrial specialization and
territorial dif erentiation in dominant routines and institutional repertoires that help
explain why no competitive cluster - or city or region or nation for that matter - can
remain a Jack-of-all-trades. At the same time, both specialization and dif erentiation
come at a cost. On the one hand there are benei cial ef ects of deepening the knowledge
base and developing routines that work well within a particular i eld. On the other
hand clusters run the risk of getting locked in if external events render the knowledge
base obsolete, the dominant routines dysfunctional, or the institutional set-up inl exible
(Cornwall and Cornwall, 2001).
In essence, an evolutionary approach directs our attention to the mechanisms by
which a pattern of clusters would emerge through the actions of myopic prospective
entrepreneurs, grow through the gradual build-up of well-adjusted routines and institu-
tions, and face threats of decline as a result of over-specialization, leading to reduced
variety, a narrowing down of knowledge bases and the rise of inertia. The standard
accounts of permanent localization economies - the cluster existence arguments - are in
this way placed in an evolutionary sequence (see Maskell and Kebir, 2006).
5. Evolutionary economic geography: conclusions and challenges
The argument forwarded in this chapter can be summarized in four bold points.
Our main argument is that the explicit recognition of the specii c drivers and con-
straints guiding individual action does improve our understanding of aggregate proc-
esses also at the levels of cities, regions or nations. Thereby, we have attempted to
demonstrate how an evolutionary approach has much to of er, but have also pointed to
a number of unresolved issues or major theoretical challenges for future theory building.
Whether the promises raised by the still juvenile evolutionary economic geography will
be fuli lled as it matures depends on its ability to invigorate empirical research on eco-
nomic development of nations, regions, cities and, indeed, of clusters - not least when it
comes to explaining how and why institutional change comes about.
Second, we have demonstrated how the adoption of an evolutionary approach might
enhance our understanding of the birth, growth and decline of clusters. Local entre-
preneurs will tend to make choices that reinforce a pattern of specialization, whatever
the precise cause of the initial spark happened to be. Institutional adjustment gradually
increases the i t with the chosen specialization and adds to the performance of the cluster.
It is an unavoidable consequence of this process that it reduces the range of alternative
development paths that may become attractive when external circumstances take unex-
pected turns. The immediate benei ts of deepened specialization are balanced by increase
in the risk of lock-in, stagnation or even decline.
