Learning from Clusters: A Critical Assessment from an Economic-Geographical Perspective

427 Pages·2005·9.626 MB·English

by  Ron A. Boschma, Robert C. Kloosterman (auth.), Ron A. Boschma, Robert C. Kloosterman (eds.)

Learning from Clusters
The GeoJournal Library
Volume 80
Managing Editor: Max Barlow, Concordia University,
Montreal, Canada
Founding Series Editor:
Wolf Tietze, Helmstedt, Germany
Editorial Board: Paul Claval, France
Yehuda Gradus, Israel
Sam Ock Park, South Korea
Herman van der Wusten, The Netherlands
The titles published in this series are listed at the end of this volume.
Learning from Clusters
A Critical Assessment from
an Economic-Geographical Perspective
Edited by
RON A.BOSCHMA
Departmentof Economic Geography,
Utrecht University, The Netherlands
and
ROBERT C.KLOOSTERMAN
Departmentof Geography, Planning and International Development Studies,
AMIDSt, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
A C.I.P.Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN-10 1-4020-3671-X (HB)
ISBN-13 978-1-4020-3671-2 (HB)
ISBN-10 1-4020-3679-5 (e-book)
ISBN-13 978-1-4020-3679-8 (e-book)
Published by Springer,
P.O.Box 17, 3300 AADordrecht, The Netherlands.
www.springeronline.com
Printed on acid-free paper
All Rights Reserved
© 2005 Springer
No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
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use by the purchaser of the work.
Printed in the Netherlands.
CONTENTS
Preface ............................................................................................................................................................................ IX
Chapter 1
Ron A. Boschma & Robert Kloosterman
Clustering, learning and regional development..................................................................................... 1
Part I The ‘cluster’ model
Chapter 2
Sergio Conti
A systematic perspective on local development ................................................................................ 19
Chapter 3
Bart Nooteboom & RosalindeKlein Woolthuis
Cluster dynamics ..................................................................................................................................................... 51
Chapter 4
Michael Taylor
Embedded local growth: a theory taken too far? .............................................................................. 69
Chapter 5
Frank Moulaert & Jacques Nussbaumer
Beyond the learning region: the dialectics of innovation and culture in
territorial development ........................................................................................................................................89
Chapter 6
Gert-Jan M. L inders, Henri L.F. de Groot & Peter Nijkamp
Economic development, institutions and trust................................................................................. 111
Chapter 7
Ron A. Boschma
Social capital and regional development: an empirical analysis of the Third Italy 139
VI
Chapter 8
Bjørn T. Asheim & Sverre J. Herstad
Regional innovation systems, varieties ofcapitalism and non-local
relations: challenges from the globalising economy .................................................................... 169
Chapter 9
Robert C. K loosterman & Eva Stegmeijer
Delirious Rotterdam: The formation of an innovative cluster of
architectural firms ............................................................................................................................................... 203
Chapter 10
Roel Rutten & Frans Boekema
Competitiveness in regional clusters. The case of Océ’s ‘Knowledge
Industry Clustering’ project........................................................................................................................... 225
Part II The impacts of ICT and externalities on urban
development
Chapter 11
Roberto Camagni & Roberta Capello
Urban milieux: from theory to empirical findings ....................................................................... 249
Chapter 12
Anet Weterings
The spatial clustering of knowledge-intensive services: computing services in the
Netherlands ............................................................................................................................................................. 275
Chapter 13
Frank G. van Oort, Daan P. van Soest & Shelby D. Gerking
Dynamic information externalities and employment growth in the Netherlands . 303
Chapter 14
Luc Soete
New regional economics: about virtualagglomeration effects ........................................... 333
Chapter 15
Peter W. Daniels
‘Old’ and ‘new’ economy and services ................................................................................................. 349
VII
Chapter 16
Pieter P. Tordoir
Economiccapabilities and strategic clusters: new perspectives for national and
regional economic policy ............................................................................................................................... 367
Part III Concluding remarks
Chapter 17
Robert C. K loosterman & Ron A. Boschma
Further learning from clusters ..................................................................................................................... 391
About the authors ............................................................................................................................................... 407
Index ......................................................................................................................................................................... 411
PREFACE
Jan Lambooy retired in October 2002. When Jan was asked how he wanted
to celebrate this occasion, he was adamant that no great festivities should
take place. Characteristically, Jan wanted just a scientific conference so he
“could learn something from it” and, as he insisted, no great festivities. So
that is what we did and a conference was organised in Amsterdam on 25
October 2002, hosted by the Faculty of Economics and Econometrics of the
University of Amsterdam. Friends of Jan’s from academia in the Netherlands
and abroad participated and thus paid homage to Jan, both as a scientist and
as a person. We are now very proud to present this festschrift, firstly as the
palpable result of this conference and secondly as a token of sincere respect
and great affection for Jan.
Edited volumes run the danger of being a hotchpotch of contributions
on a wide variety of topics. Here, we have explicitly focused on a central
theme in contemporary economic geography and regional science, namely
the relationship between learning, innovation and clustering. Internationally
renowned scientists made both theoretical and empirical contributions to
this volume. We think this book constitutes a broad palette of contemporary
thinking and research on the relationship between spatial concentration and
innovation and hope it will play a significant role in future debates on this
issue.
We would like to thank the Faculty of Economics and Econometrics
of the University of Amsterdam and especially Joop Hartog for helping to
organise the conference. We would also like to thank the AMIDSt research
institute of the University of Amsterdam and the Department of Economic
Geography of Utrecht University for financially supporting the publication of
this book. We would like to express our gratitude to Howard Turner for his
linguistic editing, to Christian Smid from UvA-Kaartenmakers for her editing
work and to Eva Stegmeijer and Merijn van der Werff for completing the
editorial process. Lastly, we want to thank Jan for his enduring inspiration.
We certainly learned a great deal from clustering with him.
September 2004
Amsterdam, Utrecht
Ron A. Boschma and Robert C. Kloosterman
1 CLUSTERING, LEARNING AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Ron A. Boschma and Robert C. Kloosterman
1.1 Introduction
The issue of clustering, learning and regional development is subject to a
recently initiated fundamental debate (see e.g. Martin and Sunley, 2003;
Gertler, 2003; Phelps and Ozawa, 2003). The 16 chapters in this book give a
unique overview of the latest developments . They reflect a kind of uneasiness
many scholars have with the general model of ‘local development’ (or what
we call the ‘cluster’ model) that has been so dominant in the field of regional
economics andeconomic geography during the last two decades. Here, we are
referring to all those concepts (such as clusters, innovative milieus, industrial
districts, regional innovation systems) that, each in their own way, describe
how a (loosely defined) region should be regarded as an important resource of
competitive advantage. The criticisms of the dominant mode of understanding
spatial concentration in this volume, both at the conceptual and empirical
level, are expressed in many ways.
The conventional cluster model is often criticised because clusters tend to be
treated as static, instead of dynamic, entities (Boschma and Lambooy, 2002).
The development of clusters is often taken for granted and a great deal of
emphasis is placed on the virtues of a cluster as if it were, and will ever remain,
in a perfect state. Moreover, the fact is often overlooked that the current state of
affairs in a cluster can only be understood by its history, that is, how it evolved.
According to Feldman et al. (2005), “... we have a limited understanding of
how innovative clusters emerge, take hold and transform regional economies”
(p. 1). In this volume, many authors (e.g. Conti, Kloosterman and Stegmeijer,
Taylor) make a plea for such an evolutionary analysis of clusters. For instance,
the contribution of Bart Nooteboom and Rosalinde Klein Woolthuis, among
others, goes beyond the cluster as a static concept (or what they call ‘a once-
and-for-all arrangement’), adding a dynamic perspective and incorporating
insights from theories of learning and innovation.
Secondly, there is an epistemological point, namely an inherent tension
in the cluster model between the general (as ideal type) and the particular
(i.e. each cluster tends to be considered as almost unique). Either cluster-
model approaches are too general to deal with the diversity of spatial
1
R.A. Boschma and R.C. Kloosterman (eds.), Learning from Clusters: A Critical Assessment, 1–15.
©2005 Springer. Printed in the Netherlands.
2 Ron A. Boschma and Robert C. Kloosterman
concentrations in real life, or they are not able to transcend the particularities
of a specific case. This tension is, for instance, felt in the contribution by
Sergio Conti who argues that the development paths of local systems are
specific, irreversible and irreproducible and therefore unlikely to be subject
to universal laws.
Thirdly, many cluster-model approaches have an in-built normative stance
since the emphasis has been on positive, rather than negative effects. Lock-
in effects are, for example, taken for granted or ignored all together. When
adopting a dynamic perspective to clusters, as advocated above, both positive
and negative aspects of cluster formation can be taken into account. For
instance, Pouder and St John (1996) argue that clusters at later stages of their
evolution may be confronted with the erosion of agglomeration economies
because they may become sources of inertia and inflexibility. This occurs at
the expense of the innovative potential of clustered firms which are unable
to anticipate and react to external shocks. Bjorn Asheim and SverreHerstad,
among others, deal with this issue during the course of this volume and
explore whether globalisation (or extra-territorial linkages) may avoid such
tendencies of lock-in in clusters.
Fourthly, there is another inherent tension in the cluster concept that
is almost insurmountable. This is because a cluster is a spatial concept (a
geographic concentration) in which a-spatial processes play a prominent role.
On the one hand, such a definition implies that there is a need to determine
at what spatial scale clusters operate. Porter’s concept of clusters has been
challenged by many, precisely because he was rather vague and inconsistent
in this respect. On the other hand, there is increasing awareness that drawing
geographical boundaries is an almost impossible task, because of the many
processes (i.e.inter-firm linkages, knowledge spillovers, social networks) that
take place at different spatial scales at the same time, and because the spatial
range of these processes is unlikely to be stable over time (Martin & Sunley,
2003). Dealing with this dilemma, Roel Rutten and Frans Boekema suggest
in this volume that researchers should take the spatial dimension as an
outcome, instead of a starting point when analysing processes and activities
of networks. In his contribution, Ron Boschma proposes a multi-spatial level
approach to assess the impact of social capital on regional development in
Italy. This is because the various sources of social capital (i.e. the family, the
community, the political culture) that are expected to affect the growth of
Italian industrial districts operate at different spatial levels simultaneously.
The contributors to this volume have also addressed shortcomings of
the dominant cluster approach at the empirical level. More generally, the