ABSTRACT
R E G I O N S , C L U S T E R S A N D I N N O V A T I O N N E T W O R K S
The introduction to this book invited readers to reflect on three frame conditions
that much of the economic, geographic and business management literature
presently finds enticing as explanations for economic success. It is said by writers
such as Porter (1990) and Ohmae (1993) that a regional sensibility is an important
factor in helping us understand how, on the one hand, the global competitive
process actually operates on the ground, while, on the other, industries successfully
cope with the demise of the nation-State as an economic guarantor of survival (e.g.
through its past capacity for subsidy, protection or promotion of “national
