TY - BOOK
T1 - Industrial and Regional Clusters: Concepts and Comparative Applications
AU - Bergman, Edward M
AU - Feser, Edward J
PY - 1999
Y1 - 1999
N2 - Industry clusters refer to the tight connections that bind certain firms and industries together in various aspects of common behavior, e.g., geographic location, sources of innovation, shared suppliers and factors of production, and so forth. Industry cluster concepts date from the last century, but they have captured the imagination of active policymakers and the serious attention of scholars only in the last decade of this century. Because clustering behavior is such a pervasive aspect of modern economies and global trade, it draws the attention of many different disciplines and benefits from their scholarship. Although a consideration of research on this topic might alone justify book-length treatment, industry cluster concepts are also powerful metaphors that are used routinely to guide industrial and regional development planning throughout the world. Drawing on classic materials and the recent burst of scholarly and policy activity, this monograph examines and demonstrates the use of industry cluster ideas as a means of understanding and shaping regional economies. The highly fluid nature of the rapidly developing body of literature and research on clusters is ideally suited to a web-based presentation, and we attempt to take full advantage of the medium here. Given the limits of a monograph presentation and the highly fluid nature of the literature, however, we focus most attention on areas where the advances have been somewhat more stable, incremental, and generally cumulative. Those concern mainly operational concepts of industry and regional clusters that have benefitted from alternative analytic approaches, and that generate relevant information for regional development policymakers. Each chapter represents our best effort to sort through, clarify and perhaps codify important concepts, definitions, labels, and methods. Occasional self-contained discussions of closely related sub-topics, explanatory sidebars, and short glossaries of terms provide additional elaboration.
AB - Industry clusters refer to the tight connections that bind certain firms and industries together in various aspects of common behavior, e.g., geographic location, sources of innovation, shared suppliers and factors of production, and so forth. Industry cluster concepts date from the last century, but they have captured the imagination of active policymakers and the serious attention of scholars only in the last decade of this century. Because clustering behavior is such a pervasive aspect of modern economies and global trade, it draws the attention of many different disciplines and benefits from their scholarship. Although a consideration of research on this topic might alone justify book-length treatment, industry cluster concepts are also powerful metaphors that are used routinely to guide industrial and regional development planning throughout the world. Drawing on classic materials and the recent burst of scholarly and policy activity, this monograph examines and demonstrates the use of industry cluster ideas as a means of understanding and shaping regional economies. The highly fluid nature of the rapidly developing body of literature and research on clusters is ideally suited to a web-based presentation, and we attempt to take full advantage of the medium here. Given the limits of a monograph presentation and the highly fluid nature of the literature, however, we focus most attention on areas where the advances have been somewhat more stable, incremental, and generally cumulative. Those concern mainly operational concepts of industry and regional clusters that have benefitted from alternative analytic approaches, and that generate relevant information for regional development policymakers. Each chapter represents our best effort to sort through, clarify and perhaps codify important concepts, definitions, labels, and methods. Occasional self-contained discussions of closely related sub-topics, explanatory sidebars, and short glossaries of terms provide additional elaboration.
KW - Industry clusters, industry cluster analysis, industry cluster theory, competitiveness, regional development
M3 - Book
T3 - Web Book in Regional Science
BT - Industrial and Regional Clusters: Concepts and Comparative Applications
PB - West Virginia University, Regional Research Institute
CY - Morganton, WV
ER -