ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the recent trends in new firm formation and industrial deconcentration. It assesses evidence for temporal and spatial variations in the pattern of new firm formation in the computer industry and throughout the economy. The chapter discusses the origins and characteristics of entrepreneurs with particular attention to the new firm formation process in the contrasting environments of Cambs/Herts and Scotland. It analyses the questionnaire data by including firms which were founded as new independent enterprises since 1975 plus branches set up directly by them. The chapter also discusses the importance of new firms in the computer industry in terms of their growing numbers, increasing employment, and their contribution to technical change and the local economy. It asserts that the opportunities presented by the microelectronics revolution have been particularly favourable to market entry by new and small firms.
