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Entrepreneurial Policy: The Case of Regional Specialization vs. Spontaneous Industrial Diversity

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  • Pierre Desrochers
  • Frederic Sautet

Abstract

Regional economic development policy is recognized as a key tool governments use to foster economic prosperity. Whether specialization (or diversity) of economic activities should be a regional development policy goal is often debated. We address this question in a local–diversity context, by reviewing traditional arguments in its favor, supplemented with evidence for more entrepreneurial concepts like industrial symbiosis and Jacobs externalities. We show that the context of entrepreneurship matters more to policy than the type and form of resulting industries. Policies enabling entrepreneurs to exploit opportunities in a context of spontaneously evolved industrial diversity are better facilitators of regional development.

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  • Pierre Desrochers & Frederic Sautet, 2008. "Entrepreneurial Policy: The Case of Regional Specialization vs. Spontaneous Industrial Diversity," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 32(5), pages 813-832, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:32:y:2008:i:5:p:813-832
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6520.2008.00257.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Bollmann, Tobias, 2018. "Unternehmensgründungen und Hochschulen: Eine Analyse der Bedeutung von universitärer Entrepreneurship-Bildung und Clustermitgliedschaften auf regionale Unternehmensgründungen," Arbeitspapiere 180, University of Münster, Institute for Cooperatives.
    2. Jing Chen, 2018. "Interpreting Economic Diversity as the Presence of Multiple Specializations," Working Papers Working Paper 2018-02, Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University.
    3. Nick Williams & Chay Brooks & Tim Vorley, 2016. "Hidden clusters: the articulation of agglomeration in City Regions," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(8), pages 1776-1792, December.
    4. Ben Spigel, 2017. "The Relational Organization of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(1), pages 49-72, January.
    5. Paul Robson & Charles Akuetteh & Paul Westhead & Mike Wright, 2012. "Innovative opportunity pursuit, human capital and business ownership experience in an emerging region: evidence from Ghana," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 603-625, October.
    6. Mitchell, Matt & Farren, Michael & Gonzalez, Olivia & Horpedahl, Jeremy, 2019. "The Economics of a Targeted Economic Development Subsidy," Annals of Computational Economics, George Mason University, Mercatus Center, November.
    7. Nick Williams & Tim Vorley & Panayiotis H Ketikidis, 2013. "Economic resilience and entrepreneurship: A case study of the Thessaloniki City Region," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 28(4), pages 399-415, June.
    8. Randall Jackson, 2015. "Are Industry Clusters and Diversity Strange Bedfellows?," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 45(2), pages 113-129, Fall.
    9. Saheum Hong & Yu Xiao, 2016. "The Influence of Multiple Specializations on Economic Performance in U.S. Metropolitan Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-16, September.
    10. Baltzopoulos, Apostolos & Braunerhjelm, Pontus & Tikoudis, Ioannis, 2012. "Spin-off: Individual, Firm, Industry and Regional Determinants," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 265, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    11. Wei, Yifan, 2022. "Reprint of: Regional governments and opportunity entrepreneurship in underdeveloped institutional environments: An entrepreneurial ecosystem perspective," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(9).
    12. Triyakshana Seshadri & Virgil Storr, 2010. "Knowledge problems associated with creating export zones," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 23(4), pages 347-366, December.
    13. Wei, Yifan, 2022. "Regional governments and opportunity entrepreneurship in underdeveloped institutional environments: An entrepreneurial ecosystem perspective," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(1).
    14. Vasilios Kanellopoulos & Georgios Fotopoulos, 2019. "The effect of knowledge spillovers on regional new firm formation: The Greek manufacturing case," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 51(4), pages 1005-1030, June.
    15. Apostolos Baltzopoulos & Pontus Braunerhjelm & Ioannis Tikoudis, 2016. "Spin-offs: why geography matters," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(2), pages 273-303.
    16. Randall Jackson, 2015. "Fellows Address: Are Industry Clusters and Diversity Strange Bedfellows?," Working Papers Working Paper 2015-04, Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University.
    17. Baltzopoulos, Apostolos, 2009. "The Firm and the Region as Breeding Grounds for Entrepreneurs," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 189, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    18. Jing Chen, 2020. "The Impact of Cluster Diversity on Economic Performance in U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 34(1), pages 46-63, February.

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