Complexity and Industrial Clusters: Dynamics and Models in Theory and Practice

Content: 
Front Matter....Pages I-VIII
Introduction: From Specific Industrial Cases to a General Economic Model?....Pages 1-9
Front Matter....Pages 11-11
What Is Complexity?....Pages 13-24
Complex Adaptive Systems and Spontaneous Emergence....Pages 25-34
The Industrial Cluster as a Complex Adaptive System....Pages 35-61
Front Matter....Pages 63-63
Complexity and Local Interactions: Towards a Theory of Industrial Districts....Pages 65-82
From Marshall’s to the Italian “Industrial Districts”. A Brief Critical Reconstruction....Pages 83-106
Diversity, Not Specialization: The Ties That Bind the (New) Industrial District....Pages 107-122
Competitive and Synergic Behaviours in the Development of Industrial Clusters: Ecological Modelling and Empirical Evidence....Pages 123-165
On the Ubiquitous Nature of Agglomeration Economies and Their Diverse Determinants: Some Notes....Pages 167-191
Front Matter....Pages 193-193
The Entrepreneurial Spark: Individual Agents and the Formation of Innovative Clusters....Pages 195-212
From Exogenous to Endogenous Local Development: The Cases of the Toulouse and Sophia Antipolis Technopoles....Pages 213-237
Biotechnology Development in Germany: The Case of Nordrhein-Westfalen....Pages 239-248
Support for Technology-Based Firms: The Role Played by Property-Based Science Parks....Pages 249-265
High-Tech Industrial Clusters in the Asian Countries: The Case of the Electronics Industry in the Hsinchu-Taipei Region....Pages 267-290
Financial Markets, Industrial Clusters and Small and Medium-Size Enterprises....Pages 291-300
Back Matter....Pages 301-308