Maggioni, Mario A. (1999) Clustering dynamics and the location of high-tech firms. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The location of productive activities and the emergence of clustering dynamics has been
an important research topic since the early works of Weber (1929) and Marshall (1920
and 1921). This thesis aims at relating the processes of firms' location decision and the
development of high-tech clusters within an encompassing theoretical and empirical
framework.
The thesis shows the empirical relevance of the clustering of high-tech sectors and
highlights the importance of the issue through the construction and use of an original
database on the location of high-tech establishments and employment (at two different
geographical levels) in four major industrialised countries. It also contains a critical
review of a number of different streams of theoretical and empirical literature which are
directly connected, or which have been explicitly put in connection by the author, with
the topic of study. In the thesis we develop a composite modelling framework for
analysing firms' location decisions and the growth of high-tech clusters, and we
empirically test a number of crucial hypotheses in order to draw some guidelines for
economic policy.
The models presented in the theoretical chapter derive from two different streams of
literature. The first derives from the analysis of population ecology, the second from the
theory of innovation diffusion. These modelling frameworks have stressed the existence
of a critical mass and a maximum dimension of the cluster and their effects on the early
and late phases of development within the "life cycle" of a cluster. They also highlighted
the role of rank, stock, order and epidemics effects in the location decision of an
individual firm which has to decide whether to locate into a developing cluster.
The empirical evidence presented in the thesis has focused on the crucial elements of the
location process by verifying the empirical relevance of different locational factors, has
stressed the relative importance of agglomeration versus scale economies in determining
the industrial specialisation of an area, and has measured the competitive effects which
arise between the development of different clusters and the synergistic effects which are
generated within the cluster. Finally the thesis presents empirical evidence which shows
that local competition and industrial specialisation are the key elements for the success
of an industrial cluster.
A final chapter extracts some crucial policy conclusions on the role of entry versus
growth policies, on the different development path that an industrial cluster may follow
depending on the excludability condition, presents an original taxonomy of specific
policies, applies some of these findings to a brief survey of the phenomenon of science
parks and finally produces a series of guidelines for policy makers.
The conclusion summarises the results obtained in the thesis and present a brief agenda
for future research.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Industrial location, Industrial clusters, High technology industries
Official Date:	July 1999
Dates:	Date Event July 1999 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	School of Industrial and Business Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Stoneman, Paul
Sponsors:	Università cattolica del Sacro Cuore. Centro di ricerche in analisi economica, economia internazionale, sviluppo economico (CRANEC) ; Istituto di ricerca sulla dinamica dei sistemi economici (IDSE) ; Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) (CNRS) ; Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche (Italy) (CNR)
Extent:	xi, 264 p.
Language:	eng

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