This book makes original contributions to the literature on clusters, human capital, and regional development by focusing on the link between entrepreneurship and economic growth, aiming for a better understanding of the dynamics of growth determined by the entrepreneur’s action in the regional space. The focus is therefore on critical reflection and rethinking the articulation among three levels of analysis of economic systems, namely entrepreneurship, human capital and regional development, which have not so far been perfectly articulated in the literature of reference on endogenous growth, i.e., following the same backbone.
Although there has been significant research so far into the success and failure of clusters, the implications of these multiple research efforts fail to provide political decision-makers and company managers with critical information about which mechanisms lie behind cluster success and also about how clusters survive and prosper.
The innovative approaches presented in this book on entrepreneurship, human capital mobility and regional development have considerable potential to create new and original implications for decision-makers and managers.
In terms of value added, this book contributes to the literature by seeking answers to the following questions:
(i) Is the growth and success of the cluster over time due to conjugating simple effects of concentration and transmission of business competences through spin-offs located in a given regional space?
(ii) Does increased density of job options outside the workplace contribute to increased mobility of human capital between firms located within clusters, and so improve coordination in the local labor market?
(iii) Do spin-offs benefit from hiring workers from successful incumbents, inasmuch as those workers are expected to perform better than other workers from different origins?
Integrating theoretical frameworks, empirical research, and regional case studies (from Portugal, Spain, Norway and Turkey), the editors and contributors demonstrate that the regional dynamics of industry growth are strongly influenced by the mobility of employees towards new firms. Successful incumbents inadvertently function as training grounds for their employees. The mobility of specialized human capital from incumbents to new firms (in the form of spin-off founders and employees hired from incumbents by new firms) is vital for new firm success, and this carries important consequences for new firm location and performance, and cluster formation and growth. Strong clusters of related companies are formed in which entrepreneurs and workers learn while working for incumbents, and transport the knowledge and routines acquired to their local new ventures.
