Relations among Clusters in Six Chinese City Regions

Abstract

Despite the considerable number of papers that have discussed industrial clusters, it is surprising that there is little research evidence on relations among clusters. This article collects longitudinal data on three low-tech and two high-tech industrial clusters in six cities in the dynamic Pearl River Delta of the People's Republic of China. The findings provide empirical support to both the Marshall–Arrow–Romer model, which argues for the importance of homogeneous (specialized) clusters and the Jacobs model, which argues for the importance of heterogeneous (diversified) clusters. Both homogeneous and heterogeneous clusters in the same region influence one another's cluster size and economic output.

Acknowledgements

The first author is especially grateful to Per Ingvar Olsen Amir Sasson, Randi Lunnan, Fred Wenstøp, Rolv Amdam, and Gabriel Benito, with whom many of the ideas presented in this paper have been discussed. All authors thank their two anonymous referees and the Editor, for their valuable comments on the draft.