Clusters, Heritage and the Microfoundations of Spillovers - Lessons from Semi-Conductors

知识产业倾向于在地理上聚集，长期以来，人们一直认为这可以通过竞争公司的当地雇员交换技术诀窍和更换雇主来促进知识的溢出。现有公司的员工有时也会找到自己的分拆公司，这可能是知识溢出的一个来源。智力价值：本研究的主要目的是评估这些替代性溢出机制的强度，以及它们在半导体产业背景下对公司绩效的影响。半导体产业以聚集在硅谷而闻名，其次是波士顿、纽约和洛杉矶。理清这些备选机制的重要性至关重要；如果集群促进知识交流和员工流动，那么集群对社会是有益的，而如果衍生产品是集群的主要渠道，那么集群的好处不会超出衍生产品及其“父母”。使用年度买家指南，收集了从该行业成立到1987年所有半导体生产商的位置和产品的数据。公司销售数据的收集，以确定市场领导者。每个生产商在进入市场前的经验都是通过年度买家指南来确定其他电子产品生产商的前生产商，并使用贸易期刊和网络资源来确定衍生产品及其母公司。收集分配给每个半导体生产商和专利发明人的专利，以跟踪发明人随时间的流动性。分析了区位等因素对半导体生产企业是否进入技术前沿生产半导体产品的影响，如果不进入技术前沿生产半导体产品，以后是否转移到技术前沿生产半导体产品的影响。分析了发明人流动性的决定因素，包括发明人在集群中的流动性是否更大。在样本期内开发了各种新的半导体产品，并分析了影响企业是否采用新产品的因素，包括位置的作用。所有这些决定反过来又与公司的业绩有关，反映在他们的销售和寿命上。更广泛的影响：了解集群是否能提高企业绩效以及区域知识扩散背后的主要机制，可以对战略和政策产生重要的更广泛的影响。如果集群促进了直接的知识共享和企业间员工流动，进而促进了集群，那么集群具有明显的福利效益，并且集群内的企业也会受益。或者，如果衍生品是集群的主要渠道，那么外部经济不会超越衍生品及其“母体”，集群本身不会提供社会效益，也不会为集群中的公司提供任何私人效益。

Knowledge industries tend to cluster geographically, which has long been thought to promote spillovers of knowledge through local employees of competing firms exchanging know-how and changing employers. Employees of incumbent firms also sometimes found their own spinoff firms, which can be a source of knowledge spillovers. Intellectual Merit: The main purpose of the proposed work is to assess the strength of these alternative spillover mechanisms and their effect on firm performance in the context of the semiconductor industry, which famously clustered in Silicon Valley and secondarily in Boston, New York, and Los Angeles. Sorting out the importance of these alternative mechanisms is critical; if clusters promote knowledge exchange and employee mobility then clustering is socially beneficial whereas if spinoffs are the primary conduit for clustering then the benefits of clusters do not extend beyond spinoffs and their 'parents'. Using an annual buyers' guide, data are collected on the location and products of all semiconductor producers from the inception of the industry through 1987. Firm sales data are collected to identify the market leaders. The pre-entry experience of each producer is traced using the annual buyers' guides to identify prior producers of other electronics producers and trade journals and web sources are used to identify spinoffs and their parents. The patents assigned to each semiconductor producer and the inventors of the patents are collected to trace the mobility of the inventors over time. An analysis is conducted of the influence of location and other factors on whether semiconductor producers entered producing semiconductor products at the technological frontier, and if not whether they later shifted to produce frontier products. The determinants of the mobility of inventors are analyzed, including whether mobility was greater for inventors in clusters. Various new semiconductor products were developed in the sample period, and analyses are conducted of the factors influencing whether firms adopted new products, including the role of location. All of these decisions are in turn related to the performance of firms, as reflected in their sales and longevity.Broader Impact: Understanding whether clusters improve firm performance and the main mechanisms behind regional knowledge diffusion can yield important broader impacts for both strategy and policy. If direct knowledge sharing and inter-firm employee mobility are promoted by clustering and in turn contribute to clustering, then clustering has clear welfare benefits and would also benefit firms located in clusters. Alternatively, if spinoffs are the primary conduit for clustering, then external economies do not go beyond spinoffs and their 'parents' and clustering provides no social benefits per se nor any private benefits to firms located in clusters.