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DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2012.667560

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Revisiting Marshall's Agglomeration Economies: Technological Relatedness and the Evolution of the Sheffield Metals Cluster

Potter, A. and Watts, H. D.

Regional Studies. 2012;48(4):603-623.

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Abstract

According to Alfred Marshall, firms receive increasing returns from a trinity of agglomeration economies: a local pool of skilled labour, local supplier linkages and local knowledge spillovers. This article re-examines the mechanisms underlying Marshall’s agglomeration economies in the Sheffield metals cluster wherein Marshall discovered them. Despite the cluster’s decline, empirical evidence is found that the mechanisms underlying Marshallian agglomeration economies continue to occur within the surviving metals industry. However, upon closer examination, Marshallian agglomeration economies have evolved to become more prevalent amongst plants that use related metals technology. The results highlight the importance of technological relatedness to cluster survival.

Keyword(s)

Technological relatedness, Agglomeration economies, Cluster, Industrial district, Alfred Marshall

Bibliographic metadata

Type of resource:

text

Content type:

Journal article

Publication status:

Published

Publication type:

Original research

Publication form:

Academic journal article

Author list:

Potter, A. and Watts, H. D.

Collaborator(s):

Watts, Doug H

Published date:

2012-05-11

Article title:

Revisiting Marshall's Agglomeration Economies: Technological Relatedness and the Evolution of the Sheffield Metals Cluster

Language:

eng

Journal title:

Regional Studies

ISSN:

1360-0591

Publisher:

Taylor & Francis (Routledge)

Publishers website:

http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cres20/current#.VK6orytfVBk

Volume:

Issue:

Start page:

603

End page:

623

Total:

Pagination:

603-623

Digital Object Identifier:

10.1080/00343404.2012.667560

Funding awarded externally:

Funder acknowledgement:

The authors are grateful to the anonymous referees for their constructive comments made on earlier versions of this article. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support given to this research by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the European Commission. Special thanks are given to the academics who commented on earlier versions of this article, colleagues at the University of Sheffield, Queen’s University Belfast and the European Commission. The authors would also like to thank Professor Harvey Armstrong from the University of Sheffield, and Costas Georgiou (Research and Evaluation Manager) and Tony Newson (Programme Chief Executive) from the European Commission (Objective 1 Programme Directorate). This work was supported by research grants from the ESRC (Research Grant Number PTA033200200056), the European Commission (Objective 1 Programme Directorate) and a Collaborative Award in Science and Engineering (CASE) Award. The usual disclaimers apply.

Attached files embargo period:

Immediate release

Attached files release date:

8th January, 2015

Access state:

Active

Institutional metadata

University researcher(s):

Potter, Antony

Academic department(s):

Record metadata

Manchester eScholar ID:

uk-ac-man-scw:155628

Created by:

Potter, Antony

Created:

10th February, 2012, 15:17:16

Last modified by:

Potter, Antony

Last modified:

27th October, 2015, 11:11:11