Building Internationally Competitive Technology Regions: The Industrial-Location-Factors Approach and the Local-Technological-Milieux Approach

Abstract

In this paper I make the claim that academic business research on technological innovation and international competitiveness ought to move further in the direction of meso-level analysis, to complement the majority of research to date that has been conducted at either the micro level of analysis or the macro level of analysis. I survey meso-organizational literature from fields such as geography, urban studies and regional planning, and explore how theoretical contributions of those fields might be linked to recent insights from business research to produce strategies for building competitive technology regions. I conclude by outlining two alternative approaches, the “Local Technological Milieux” approach and the “Industrial Location Factors” approach. I suggest that high-technology industry development policies based on the Local Technological Milieux approach are more likely to be successful than policies based on the other approach.