We talked about Michael Porter's cluster theory on a course of economic geography in University of Helsinki. One of the most interesting topics in Porter's article from 2000 is "clusters and new business formation". A group of students researched that phenomenon in Helsinki Metropolitan Area.
As Porter claims, research group found out that "new businesses are formed in existing clusters rather than in isolated locations". Up to 52 % of new business formation were explained by the number of existing businesses in postal code area. They analyzed also new business formation in the HMA at 250 meter cell level. Existing businesses as well as existing workplaces were statistically significant indicators also at that scale. Physical infrastructure is just one factor input in Porter's diamond approach. In their regression analysis, students pointed out that only 18 % of new business formation could be explained with different accessibility measures. Analysis was carried out at cell level. When analyzed certain industries, the explanation power raised up to 39 % in transportation and storage section, where travel time to the center of the metropolitan area with car was the only significant variable. Travel time to the center and to the airport with public transportation were significant in both knowledge based business services as well as in wholesale and retail industries. Travel time to new cargo port was not significant in any of the three examined industries. When variables considering both accessibility and existing businesses were combined, the research group got adjusted R2 values over 50 % also at 250 meter cell level. From their analyses, it is evident that new businesses cluster in existing clusters where there are already other firms and good physical infrastructure. The original course report in Finnish can be read from the homepage of our project.
Comments
|
Photo by Rob Hurson
Categories
All
Archives
July 2018
AuthorJuho Kiuru, geographer living in Helsinki, Finland. |