Premium
Why do business service firms cluster? Small consultancies, clustering and decentralization in London and southern England
Author(s) -
Keeble D,
Nachum L
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
transactions of the institute of british geographers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.196
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1475-5661
pISSN - 0020-2754
DOI - 10.1111/1475-5661.00042
Subject(s) - decentralization , underpinning , economic geography , globalization , cluster analysis , north west , service (business) , cluster (spacecraft) , industrial district , south east , regional science , business , sociology , marketing , economics , economy , geography , market economy , engineering , computer science , ethnology , civil engineering , machine learning , physical geography , programming language
Notwithstanding their remarkable recent growth, surprisingly little research has hitherto been conducted on the evolving geography of professional and business services in Britain. This paper analyses the results of a detailed survey of 300 small and medium‐sized management and engineering consultancies, in investigating the forces underpinning both the striking clustering of such firms in central London and their growth in decentralized locations of East Anglia and South West England. Particular attention is paid to the notion of clustering, the role of demand‐side influences, localized ‘collective learning’ processes, and increasing globalization in clustering, and to so‐called ‘enterprising behaviour theory’ in explaining decentralization.