Search

The study argues that cluster should not be overendowed as a singular 'brand', but recognized as an emergent set of multiple perspectives in dialogue. The possibilities for theoretical, empirical and policy cross-fertilization from the difficult act of holding together these threads is one potential drawn from conversations engendered through hermeneutic theorizing in economic geography.

The knowledge development at the firm and the cluster level is specifically addressed and the role of knowledge stocks and flows in establishing competitive advantage for clusters and firms is examined. The concepts from economic geography with those of strategic management are integrated to develop a model of stocks and flows of knowledge as critical source of competitive advantage.

The New Industrial Spaces theory was examined to help explain the appearance of uneven development in advanced capitalist societies. The theory claims, through the use of transactions cost analysis, that special agglomeration of high technology industry is a signal of the new geography of production. An empirical analysis of Britain's Hertfordshire county revealed that the transactions cost mechanism is just but one of the many processes behind the growth of high technology industrial agglomeration.

This article draws on critiques of 'global cities' to conceptualize Birmingham, the UK's second largest metropole, as a 'global' city by highlighting forms of economic globalization that draw on the city's residents, their histories and their social and cultural networks. The article illustrates some of the diversity and significance of minority ethnic economic activity within Birmingham and the potential this holds for its future economic development, focusing on examples from three transnational networks (Chinese business networks, ethnic food manufacturing and the Bhangra music industry). The article signals a rather different understanding of 'global' as it relates to economic advantage, transnationalism and ethnic diversity within cities in general, and Birmingham in particular. We suggest that this different understanding of the global has important policy implications, not simply in terms of economic representations of the city, but also in terms of developing the possibilities of such transnational networks and engaging with the constraints facing them. We argue that encouraging a more relational way of thinking about cities like Birmingham has the potential for advancing social wellbeing by influencing socio-economic policy and practice. We use the example of Birmingham, therefore, to engage broader debates about alternative paths of 'global' economic, social and cultural investment for UK (and other) cities.

This article discusses the concept of institutional thickness, using southern England's industrial cluster 'Motor Sport Valley' as a model. The authors, focusing on economic systems and development, argue that economically successful regions that contain institutional thickness are not significant factors, but the nature of the institutions in the area and their relationship with economic growth is the crucial issue.

STEVEN PINCH [*] NICK HENRY [+] (Received March 1998; in revised form August 1998) PINCH S. and HENRY N. (1999) Paul Krugman's geographical economics, industrial clustering and the British motor [...]

M. STORPER and R. SALAIS, Harvard University Press, London (1997). xiv+370 pp. [pounds]29.95 (hbk). ISBN 0 674 96203 6. It is a cliche but it simply is not possible to [...]