Book to Note

Pontus Braunerhjelm; Maryann P. Feldman, editors. Cluster Genesis: Technology-Based Industrial Development. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. 352 pp. $55.00 paper.

Reviewed by Jennifer Dionisio

With regional governments increasingly investing their economic hopes in promoting industry clusters, it seems the perfect opportunity to analyze the evolution of thriving, established clusters and younger, developing ones. In Cluster Genesis, editors Pontus Braunerhjelm and Maryann P. Feldman present a blueprint for informing current policy that is based on lessons learned from the past. Among the 12 essays, the first section chronicles the history of such successful clusters as Silicon Valley’s electronics industry and Boston’s and the Bay Area’s biotechnology industries. With the promise of biotech fueling much recent interest in the clustering phenomenon, subsequent essays that study emerging biotechnology clusters in the United States, Europe, and China provide a background on the elements involved in both planned and accidental cluster development. Although Cluster Genesis doesn’t promise a step-by-step instruction manual for cluster development, it certainly offers a thorough evaluation of its potential and limitations within industries and the areas that host them.