Record Display for the EPA National Library Catalog

RECORD NUMBER: 49 OF 4924

Main Title A Life Cycle for Clusters? The Dynamics of Agglomeration, Change, and Adaption / [electronic resource] :
Type EBOOK
Author Press, Kerstin.
Publisher Physica-Verlag HD,
Year Published 2006
Call Number HF1021-1027
ISBN 9783790817638
Subjects Geography ; Physics ; Engineering ; Economics ; Industrial organization (Economic theory)
Internet Access
Description Access URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/3-7908-1763-5
Collation XIII, 245 p. 40 illus. online resource.
Notes
Due to license restrictions, this resource is available to EPA employees and authorized contractors only
Contents Notes
The rationale for studying cluster dynamics -- Introduction: Clusters, change and adaptation -- Literature review - The benefits of co-location -- Stability and change: Driving cluster development -- The nature of the beast - On the notion of agglomeration externalities -- Towards a complexity perspective on clusters -- Clusters, change and adaptation: Sticky places in slippery space? -- Modelling adaptation in clusters - The promise of complexity theory -- Model development - Clusters as complex adaptive systems -- Micromotives and macrobehaviour - Dynamics of N/K systems -- Clusters as co-evolving N/K systems -- Division of labour, co-ordination and cluster adaptation -- Clusters, change and adaptation - Simulation results -- Model contribution, limitation and avenues for future research. The phenomenon of non-random spatial concentrations of firms in one or few related sectors (clusters) is intensively debated in economic theory and policy. The euphoria about successful clusters however neglects that historically, many thriving clusters did deteriorate into old industrial areas. This book studies the determinants of cluster survival by analyzing their adaptability to change in the economic environment. Linking theoretic knowledge with empirical observations, a simulation model (based in the N/K method) is developed, which explains when and why the cluster's architecture assists or hampers adaptability. It is found that architectures with intermediate degrees of division of labour and more collective governance forms foster adaptability. Cluster development is thus path dependent as architectures having evolved over time impact on the likelihood of future survival.