Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
ing the evolution of industrial clusters. Note that, within this approach,
a conceptual distinction has to be made here between growth and the
evolution of a cluster or region. 'Growth' is defined in terms of a quantita-
tive and qualitative increase of the cluster/region's existing resources and
structures, including its mechanisms of specialization and diversification.
In contrast, 'evolution' implies structural and institutional changes that
take place within the cluster or region, leading eventually to the partial
or complete transformation of the existing structures, spatial settings and
economic and innovative advantages of the local system, resulting in either
regional regeneration or decline. Although the two phenomena are clearly
interrelated, our focus here is more on the evolution of clusters as a result
of globalization forces and technological change embodied in MNEs.
Few observations are worth mentioning in this respect. On the one
hand, despite the high microeconomic turbulence of industries, the
overall degree of spatial clustering seems to remain fairly stable over time,
although a bigger variation is observed in the location of such agglomera-
tions (Dumais et al. 2002). On the other hand, as shown by Bottazzi et
al. (2005), intersectoral differences in agglomeration patterns can be at
least in part accounted for by differences in the regimes of technological
learning across industries. All this suggests that in terms of technology
there are two overlapping levels of dynamic features that link industrial
and spatial structures. Firstly, there are cross-sectoral location-specific
advantages that underlie the intra- and inter-industry heterogeneity of
spatial patterns. Second, there are the sector-specific knowledge condi-
tions that help explain regularities in industrial patterns across different
regional locations. One of the greatest challenges in analysing innovation
processes and technological change is therefore dealing with this issue
of the interdependences between sectoral diversity and spatial diversity
(Frenken and Boschma 2007). In response to these challenges, here below
we further expand and develop the typologies of industrial clustering ini-
tially outlined in Table 5.1 specifically so as to link the major technological
trajectories and innovation patterns followed by firms and industries to
the major forms of spatial industrial clustering evident.
In line with what has been argued so far, industrial cluster and regional
dynamics can be seen as a function of three main factors:
firm-level dynamic capabilities, which refer to the intra-
organizational technological and organizational capabilities of both
local firms and MNEs;
●
technological regimes, which refer to industry dynamics and the
prevailing knowledge conditions in the specific industry structure of
the cluster/region;
●
