Why some clusters succeed whereas others decline ? Modelling the ambivalent stability properties of clusters

The aim of this paper is to study the ambivalent properties of stabilities of clusters. We propose to enter the black box of the local knowledge externalities by focusing on the location decision externalities. In particular, we show that the nature of mimetic strategies in the convergence process of locational choices influence the dynamic stability of clusters. Thus, when uncertainty and search for legitimacy prevail on the need for coordination and the associated necessities of compatibility and technological convergence, the clusters are unstable, due to an excess of cognitive proximity and a risk of unintended spillovers. Nevertheless, this search for legitimacy, through the strategy which consists in following the locational choice of companies leader of a sector, can lead to the fast emergence of a cluster. But without relational proximity, its stability is not insured. These results are obtained following the formulation of some theoretical proposals on the links between location decision externalities and the resulting forms of socioeconomic proximities. This set of proposals is validated firstly by a model of simulation which makes it possible to test the properties of stability of aggregate outcomes of locational choices. Secondly, they are illustrated by a comparative empirical analysis of two main French clusters (Silicon Sentier and Sophia-Antipolis)..clusters, proximities, stability, location under decision externalities, Silicon Sentier, Sophia-Antipolis

From interaction economics to economic geography : theories and evidences (In French)

The paper focuses on the prospects interaction economics opens in the economic geography field. The first part is devoted to the conditions in which interaction economics emerges and develops. The second one focuses on the main concepts and models. In the third one, we show through a recent research survey, that sequential, cumulative and non-market interaction approach allows to explain the emergence and stability of agglomeration structures. The paper ends up in the prospects interaction economics opens, in a spatial competition context, about local policy modesrationality, aggregation, interaction structures, neighborhoods, learning, location, local policy implications

The Ambivalent Role of Mimetic Behaviors in Proximity Dynamics: Evidences on the French “Silicon Sentier”

This articles examines the peculiar role of mimetic behaviors in co-location processes. We start showing that geographical proximity between agents and/or firms is not a sufficient nor necessary condition for the collective performance of clusters. Other types of socio-economic proximities characterize clusters, and our purpose is to show that, among the several ways to analyze the complex links between proximities and clusters, the theoretical outlook on the role played by mimetic interactions in co-location processes are certainly one of the most promising. Mimetic behaviors of location (in economics and sociology) are introduced in order to demonstrate that co-location processes can be the result of sequentiality, uncertainty, legitimacy and non market interactions, rather than full rational and isolated decisions and pure strategic market interactions. According to the type of mimetic behavior at work in the clustering process, the nature of socio-economic proximity can differ and have a strong influence of the “evolutionary stability” of clusters. All these theoretical considerations are illustrated through the emblematic French case of “Silicon Sentier”, cluster which has gathered together three hundred firms of the French net-economy (the famous “dotcom”) during the Internet bubble swelling.cluster, mimetic interactions, proximity, stability, Silicon Sentier