ABSTRACT

Various theories have been put forward as to why business and industry develops in clusters and despite good work being carried out on path dependence and dynamics, this is still very much an emerging topic in the social sciences. To date, no overarching theoretical framework has been developed to show how clusters evolve.

Unfolding Cluster Evolution aims to address this gap by presenting theoretical and empirical research on the geography of innovation. This contributed volume seeks to shed light on the understanding of clusters and its dynamic evolution. The book provides evidence to suggest that traditional perspectives from evolutionary economic geography need to be wedded to management thinking in order to reach this point. Bringing together thinking from a range of disciplines and countries across Europe, this book explores a wide range of topics from the capability approach, to network dynamics, to multinational corporations, to firm entry and exit and social capital.

This book will be of interest to policy makers and students of urban studies, economic geography, and planning and development.

chapter |8 pages

Introduction

Unfolding cluster and industrial district evolution: into the future

chapter 2|16 pages

Economies and diseconomies of clusters

Financial services in the City of London

chapter 3|17 pages

The dual role of multinational corporations in cluster evolution

When you dance with the devil, you wait for the song to stop

chapter 4|15 pages

Multinational corporations and cluster evolution

The case of Cosentino in the Spanish marble cluster

chapter 6|20 pages

Ethnic entrepreneurship in the Prato industrial district

An analysis of foundings and failures of Italian and Chinese firms *

chapter 7|11 pages

Cognitive inertia at bay

Global value chains and cluster openness favouring smart specialization in the Toy Valley cluster – Spain

chapter 9|18 pages

Cluster life cycles and path dependency

An exploratory assessment of cluster evolution in the Basque Country

chapter 10|17 pages

Driving factors of cluster evolution

A multi-scalar comparative perspective

chapter 11|14 pages

On the emergence and evolution of clusters

The role of agency and external factors in the Galician turbot industry

chapter 13|17 pages

The evolutionary dynamics of creative clusters

How can they best be captured?

chapter 14|14 pages

Understanding the dynamics of cluster competitive advantage

Empirical evidence using a capability-based perspective

chapter 16|15 pages

Experiences of cluster evolution in the Brazilian ceramic tile industry

The accumulation of capabilities among local producers in a developing country