Regional competence and economic recovery: divergent growth paths in Boston's high technology economy

By H. Bathelt. 2001

132 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Since the 1960s, the growth of high technology industries in Boston's Route 128 region has attracted the attention of academics, planners and politicians. What was especially remarkable about the region was the capability of its economic base to recover from major structural crises. Owing to this ability, the region is often looked at as being an American example of an industrial district. In contrast to Silicon Valley, however, Boston does not readily fit into the definition of an industrial district because of the dominance of large, vertically-integrated producers and the proprietary nature of high technology production. In the late 1980s, Boston was hit by an additional structural crisis when the minicomputer industry lost its competitive basis and defence expenditures were drastically reduced. As a result, almost 50000 high technology manufacturing jobs were cut between 1987 and 1997. This paper aims to identify the forces behind the region's economic recovery in the mid-1990s and relate these findings to the discussion of the importance of collective learning processes in industrial production and the development of localized competencies. In the literature, it is argued that firm-specific competencies and learning processes can lead to a regional competitive advantage if they are based on localized capabilities (e.g. specialized resources, skills, conventions and institutions). The author will demonstrate in an explorative way that the economic recovery of the Boston region is related to a number of specific forces that differ greatly between the subsectors of the high technology economy. I will also provide tentative evidence of how the willingness to co-operate and engage in interactive learning processes has encouraged economic recovery.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics, Political Science and International Relations

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/94ac8091e435cccdf8dccc846c72eb8093435071

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Economics and Econometrics

In Political Science and International Relations

Citations in the corpus

Mountains in a flat world: Why proximity still matters for the location of economic activity (2008, background): “‘learning regions’ (Gertler, Wolfe and Garkut 2000; Henry and Pinch 2000; Bathelt 2001), and”
Toward a Reconceptualization of Regional Development Paths: Is Leipzig’s Media Cluster a Continuation of or a Rupture with the Past? (2003, background): “…such as the Hochschule für Graphik und Buchkunst (College for Book and Graphic Arts), that were originally affiliated with book publishing have added programs to train workers for Leipzig’s new media industries and to create specialized skills in media professions (Sagurna 2000; Bathelt 2001a).”
University spin-off policies and economic development in Less successful regions: Learning from two decades of policy practice (2005, background): “The archetypal places where USOs have succeeded are in the main already successful places, such as Route 128, Silicon Valley, and Silicon Fen (Saxenian, 2000; Wicksteed, 2000; Bathelt, 2001).”
The Place of Path Dependence in an Evolutionary Perspective on the Economic Landscape (2010, background): “In fact, there is increasing recognition of the ways in which resources and competences used in old paths may be recombined and reworked to form the basis of purposeful entrepreneurial deviations (Kemp et al, 2001; Metcalfe, 2005; Bathelt, 2001).”
Innovation in knowledge intensive industries: The nature and geography of knowledge links (2006, result): “This is in line with other studies on HT industries (Saxenian, 1994; Sternberg, 1995; Camagni & Capello, 2000; Bathelt, 2001).”
When Local Interaction Does Not Suffice: Sources of Firm Innovation in Urban Norway (2011, unknown): “This has led scholars to challenge the view that local learning is the best channel for generating an innovative environment and innovative firms (Bathelt, 2001; Gertler, 2003).”
Better Rules or Stronger Communities? On the Social Foundations of Institutional Change and Its Economic Effects (2006, background): “…districts and clusters (Piore and Sabel 1984; Kristensen 1992; Semlinger 1993; Burroni 2001; Becattini and Sforzi 2002; Bellandi 2002), “learning regions” (Morgan 1997; Gertler, Wolfe, and Garkut 2000; Henry and Pinch 2000; Bathelt 2001), and regional systems of innovation (Cooke and Morgan 1998).”
In what sense ‘regional development?’: entrepreneurship, underdevelopment and strong tradition in the periphery (2004, background): “In finding new combinations of existing assets, new niches and market needs, entrepreneurs drive efficiency and raise productivity (Bathelt 2001).”