ISBN: 3790817104
TITLE: A Life Cycle for Clusters?
AUTHOR: Press
TOC:
Table of contents
Part I The rationale for studying cluster dynamics 1
1 Introduction: Clusters, change and adaptation 3
1.1 A Janus-faced phenomenon: Cluster prosperity and decline 4
1.1.1 Definition and unit of analysis 7
1.1.2 Cluster dynamics: On emergence, endurance and exhaustion 9
1.1.3 Decline or adaptation: Agent activities and cluster architecture 12
1.2 Goals and contribution of the study 13
1.3 Course of the study 16
Part 11 Literature review - The benefits of co-location 19
2 Stability and change: Driving cluster development 21
2.1 Novelty, uncertainty and transaction costs: Industry-location life cycles 23
2.2 Symbiosis, habitat and external events: Dynamics of firm populations 25
2.3 Externalities and trade costs: The New Economic Geography 27
2.4 Increasing retums and firm location choice: Spatial path dependence 31
2.5 Summary and critique 35
3 The nature of the beast - On the notion of agglomeration externalities 37
3.1 The advantages from co-location 39
3.1.1 It all started with Marshall: Agglomeration economies 41
3.1.2 Beyond Marshall: New developments in the cluster literature 43
3.2 On Districts, Porterian 'Clusters', Innovation Systems and Milieux 47
3.2.1 Italian Industrial Districts 47
3.2.2 (Porterian) Clusters 50
3.2.3 Regional Innovation Systems 51
3.2.4 Innovative Milieux 53
3.3 Summary and critique 54
Part III Towards a complexity perspective an clusters 57
4 Clusters, change and adaptation: Sticky places in slippery space? 59
4.1 The nature of clusters: Agents, interdependence and co-Ordination 60
4.2 Adaptation: Decentralised problem solving by interdependent agents 64
4.2.1 Individual activities or cluster properties: Drivers of adaptation 65
4.2.2 Reality bites: Success factors in adaptation 68
4.2.3 Agents, interdependence, adjustment: Cluster self-Organisation 73
4.3 The nature of cluster adaptation and resulting model requirements 75
5 Modelling adaptation in clusters - The promise of complexity theory 77
5.1 Clusters as complex adaptive systems 78
5.1.1 Systems and complexity theory: An overview 78
5.1.2 Are clusters complex adaptive systems? The issue of agency 82
5.2 Agents, interdependence and fitness: Introducing the N/K model 84
5.2.1 The importance of directed interdependencies 85
5.2.2 Measuring success by fitness landscapes 86
5.2.3 Bifurcations or perturbations in the fitness landscape 90
5.2.3 Structure, search, selection: Division of labour, co-Ordination 91
5.3 Clusters as N/K systems: Parameter definition and system dynamics 92
Part IV Model development - Clusters as complex adaptive Systems 93
6 Micromotives and macrobehaviour - Dynamics of N/K systems 95
6.1 Agent dynamics: Structure, Search and Selection 97 6.1.1 Structure: The nature of fitness landscapes 97
6.1.2 Search: Landscape exploration by mutation 100
6.1.3 Selection: Evaluation of modification fitness 102
6.2 The dynamics of agent groups 104
6.3 Co-evolving agent populations: Self organisation and performance 105
6.4 The behaviour of N/K systems: Agent, group and aggregate dynamics 108
7 Clusters as co-evolving N/K systems 109
7.1 Parameters, agent, group and system dynamics 109
7.1.1 Model parameters: N, K, C and S 111
7.1.2 Model setup: Agents, elements and interdependence 113
7.1.3 Search, test, selection: Agent dynamics 116
7.1.4 Bidding for representation: From agent to group behaviour 118
7.1.5 Deforming landscape subsets: The dynamics of co-evolution 118
7.2 Accommodating division of labour and mode of co-Ordination 119
7.2.1 Fitness landscape structure: The role of division of labour 120
7.2.2 Strategy selection: The role of inter-agent co-Ordination 125
7.3 Number, optimality and spread of modifications: Driving adaptability 130
Part V Division of labour, co-ordination and cluster adaptation 133
8 Clusters, change and adaptation - Simulation results 135
8.1 Fitness landscape reconfigurations (bifurcation) 136
8.2 Fitness landscape shift (perturbation) 147
8.3 The tragedy of collectivists 153 8.4 Summary 159
9 Model contribution, limitation and avenues for future research 161
9.1 Implications of findings 162 9.1.1 Division of labour and co-ordination: The causalities 162
9.1.2 Explaining empirical trends: Districts and Silicon Valley 164
9.2 Model contribution 166
9.3 Model limitations 168
9.4 Avenues for future research 171
9.5 Conclusion 172
Appendices 175
A1 Symbiosis, habitat and change 175
A2 Clusters as core-periphery structures 176
A3 Location choice, path dependence and clusters 178
A4 Model parameter values and fitness landscapes 182
A5 The simulation model 189
A6 Cluster adaptation to change - Results overview 203
List of figures 223
List of tables 225
References 227
Part V Division of labour, co-ordination and Cluster adaptation 133
8 Clusters, change and adaptation - Simulation results 135
8.1 Fitness landscape reconfigurations (bifurcation) 136
8.2 Fitness landscape shift (perturbation) 147
8.3 The tragedy of collectivists 153
8.4 Summary 159
9 Model contribution, limitation and avenues for future research 161
9.1 Implications of findings 162 9.1.1 Division of labour and co-ordination: The causalities 162
9.1.2 Explaining empirical trends: Districts and Silicon Valley 164
9.2 Model contribution 166
9.3 Model limitations 168 9.4 Avenues for future research 171
9.5 Conclusion 172
Appendices 175
A1 Symbiosis, habitat and change 175
A2 Clusters as core-periphery structures 176
A3 Location choice, path dependence and Clusters 178
A4 Model parameter values and fitness landscapes 182
A5 The simulation model 189 A6 Cluster adaptation to change - Results overview 203
List of figures 223
List of Tables
References 227
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