Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128, With a New Preface by the Author

by AnnaLee Saxenian

Overview

Why is it that in the ’90s, business in California’s Silicon Valley flourished, while along Route 128 in Massachusetts it declined? The answer, Annalee Saxenian suggests, has to do with the fact that despite similar histories and technologies, Silicon Valley developed a decentralized but cooperative industrial system while Route 128 came to be dominated by independent, self-sufficient corporations. The result of more than one hundred interviews, this compelling analysis highlights the importance of local sources of competitive advantage in a volatile world economy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674753402
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	03/01/1996
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

AnnaLee Saxenian is Dean of the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley.

Table of Contents

Prologue

Introduction: Local Industrial Systems

1. Genesis: Universities, Military Spending, and Entrepreneurs

2. Silicon Valley: Competition and Community

3. Route 128: Independence and Hierarchy

4. Betting on a Product

5. Running with Technology

6. Inside Out: Blurring Firms' Boundaries

Conclusion: Protean Places

Notes

Historical Data

Definitions and Data Sources

Acknowledgments

Index

Editorial Reviews

Over the past decade however there has been a growing interest in the role which territory (in the form of regions, industrial districts or innovative milieux)plays in fostering technical change and industrialinnovation…One of the many virtues of this book is the way it penetrates beneath these superficial similarities, exposing a more complex, more telling set of differences which help to explain the very different fortunes of these regions in recent years…what we have here is a well-researched, elegantly written and provocative book on a subject which should engage a wide array of disciplines, especially those with an interest in innovation and regional development.

Research Review - Kevin Morgan

This is scholarship at its best-thoroughly researched, elegantly written, a compelling story that's relevant to business executives and policymakers everywhere.

Boston Globe - John Case

The best book I've seen at analyzing the secrets of Silicon Valley's success. And it shows why the valley's future remains bright even though costs are high.

San Jose Mercury News - James J. Mitchell

Saxenian's findings are important because they highlight the fundamental organizational practices behind California's economic successes in several key sectors, a reality dangerously ignored by many of the state's political and business leaders.

Los Angeles Times - David Friedman

A welcome addition to the growing literature on American high technology, offering fresh insights in a thorough...account of the economic and technological evolution of America's premier high-technology regions.

Science - Richard Florida