Entrepreneurship and Innovations in Functional Regions, edited by Charlie Karlsson, Roger R. Stough, and Börje Johansson
该书汇编了关于功能区域中创业与创新的多篇论文，涵盖理论、实证和方法论，适合区域科学研究者及政策制定者了解空间背景下的创业与创新。
Entrepreneurship and Innovations in Functional Regions , edited by Charlie Karlsson, Roger R. Stough, and Börje Johansson . 2009 . Cheltenham , U.K. and Northampton, Massachusetts : Edward Elgar . 428 + ix . ISBN 978-1-84720-074-7 , $155 . It is often hard to find a book related to regional science that fascinates the reader from the first page to the last. Karlsson, Stough, and Johansson's edited volume definitely fits the description. The book is pleasant to read, well formatted, not overloaded with tables and figures, and, most importantly, it is well balanced with respect to contributions that are empirically as well as theoretically motivated. By titling the book Entrepreneurship and Innovations in Functional Regions the editors obviously took on a challenging task: assembling a fine selection of relevant papers that covers the wide spectrum of entrepreneurship and innovations in a spatial context. Although the contributions exhibit a slight “Swedish bias,” it is worth mentioning that it does not necessarily imply a limitation of the information value for other, non-Swedish regions. On the contrary, by reading the first thirteen pages of the introductory chapter, one inevitably obtains the impression that the main goal is to distill major elements that are necessary to stimulate regional innovation by entrepreneurial activities embedded in a (global) knowledge economy. In particular, the book clearly points out that individual functional-region entities increasingly play a dominant role as knowledge generators and knowledge transmitters. Knowledge, as an essential input in the regional production process, accelerates technological progress, driven by entrepreneurial activities, not only in the region of origin; it also influences productivity in neighboring regions, due to spillovers. Needless to mention, the editors tackle a highly politically relevant theme, and hence the book is a valuable source from a policymaker's point of view. One appealing attribute of the book is the striking fact that it offers the reader an illustrative and rich collection of methodological approaches. There are analyses of case studies, descriptive evaluations of data sets, and papers employing several standard econometric methods. Subjects of individual chapters include: engineering culture; relationships between location, corporate structure, and innovation; firm size and age and R&D; university-educated labor; role of product variety in exporting; survivorship as related to strategy; bankruptcy law; East Württemberg (Germany), as a learning region; broadcasting in three U.K. city-regions; latecomer strategies in mobile handset manufacturing in China; and support networks for entrepreneurs. Although the book provides the reader with a colorful bouquet of interesting contributions, two of them seem to be worth exploring in more detail in a short review. My selection is aimed to give at least a partial sense of the plurality of methodologies. The first essay I have chosen is the one on firm size and age and R&D, by Kristina Nyström. On the relationship between innovations and firm age, the relevant literature so far offers two answers and can be therefore separated into two strands: one argues that R&D is mainly a large-firm phenomenon, the other points out that R&D is a promising way for small firms to compete. In her empirical analysis Nyström distinguishes between process innovations and product innovations, utilizing Swedish manufacturing industry data from 1997 and 1999 that allow her to classify R&D activities of firms. Employing a multinomial logit model she finds, first, the probability of conducting pure product R&D or a combination of product and process R&D is significantly higher for older firms (older than 80 years) than for younger firms. Hence, for firms carrying out both product and process R&D, more pronounced size and age effects can be expected. The analysis also reveals certain complementarities between process and product innovations and, last but not least, reveals that only a small fraction of firms conduct only process R&D. Nevertheless, I have some doubts regarding the firmness of Nyström's conclusion, because the analysis concentrates on only two points in time. It would be more fruitful to introduce an explicit time dimension by expanding the cross-section analysis to a panel analysis. Doing so would allow controlling explicitly for business cycle effects, because in both 1997 and 1999 the Swedish economy was expanding. Despite this, I find the analysis informative and promising for further research in this area. The second essay I have selected is on agglomeration, learning, and spatial clustering of firms, by Vito Albino, Francisco Alvarez, and Ilaria Giannoccaro. The topic is closely related to one topic on my own research agenda. The issue is whether knowledge externalities and interactive learning happen concurrently in agglomerations. Concentrating on the firm level, the authors try to uncover links that foster the creation of firm clusters when knowledge externalities combined with firm-level learning processes are present. They utilize a cellular automaton methodology that is situated far from mainstream economics but can be best associated with an evolutionary approach. In my view this technique is fitting to pursue not only their initial research question mentioned above, but also to carry out an advanced simulation analysis, mainly to examine the influence of agent heterogeneity and regional knowledge centers on the clustering process. The appealing attribute of the setup is that even a reader who is not familiar initially with this kind of modeling will find an easy access to it due to the clearly written step-by-step explanation of the model. In a nutshell, Albino, Alvarez, and Giannoccaro's results show impressively that knowledge externalities combined with learning activities boosts firms’ tendency to cluster spatially. In summary, I am quite impressed by the clear structure of the book and the reader-friendly style of writing. I find that the selection of papers offers the reader a valuable and interesting avenue to the ongoing research agenda of entrepreneurship and innovations in a spatial context. The book serves as a solid platform for researchers not yet familiar with this topic. Regarding the empirics, it may be the case that some spatial econometrics specialists will appreciate the book less, because some new methods in spatial econometrics are not found there. Nevertheless, especially for young researchers starting their career in regional science, this insightful book serves as an ideal landmark substantiating their research field.