Dan Johansson () (Royal Institute of Technology, Industrial Organization and Management, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden) Dilek Cetindamar () (Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey) Bo Carlsson () (Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106-7206, USA) Pontus Braunerhjelm () (Center for Business and Policy Studies , 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden)
Additional information is available for the following
registered author(s):
This paper examines the rapid growth of the polymer-based and biomedical clusters in Ohio and Sweden - two regions of similar size and with similar traditions undergoing similar industrial restructuring.
Two issues are addressed: First, why has growth been so strong in these particular clusters, i.e., can we identify the sources of the growth and dynamics in these sectors? Second, why do these two clusters differ in Ohio and Sweden in terms of size, level and type of activity, number and composition of actors, size structure of firms and growth patterns over the last couple of decades? In particular, what is the role of public policies as well as cultural, historical, and geographic factors?
Our main conclusions are (1) that there is strong path dependence in both clusters in both countries, and (2) that the key to rapid development is a high absorptive capacity combined with rapid diffusion to new potential users. Our policy discussion addresses these issues.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.
Find related papers by JEL classification: L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production O30 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - General
Cited by: (explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)