John N. H. Britton

Network Structure of an Industrial Cluster: Electronics in Toronto:

The literature on the theory of regional industrial success, including that focused on regional innovation systems, provides the conceptual foundation for this exploration of the extent to which firms in clusters of advanced technology industry depend on interregional sources for a wide variety of knowledge inputs to support innovation. The substantive focus is the electronics cluster of the Toronto region, Canadas largest manufacturing center. A small, stratified sample of establishments drawn from this cluster is used to verify the importance of external sources of material inputs, and other knowledge sources, and the strength of distant market connections. Interregional and local collaboration vary in importance as a result of scale-dependent resource differences between firms and in response to choices associated with foreign rather than domestic ownership. The results support the rejection of simple models of clusters and learning regions in which internal connections are privileged over interregional and international transactions operating either between or within firms.

High technology localization and extra-regional networks

Firms in spatial concentrations of advanced-technology activities do not constrain their knowledge inputs to opportunities found within their industrial cluster. Rather, firms seeking extra-regional markets augment their in-house resources by means of material (embodied technology) and knowledge inputs obtained from sources at the extra-regional scale in addition to within the region. Literature is reviewed on the clustering of firms and their network geography, models of open and closed industrial systems, and absorptive capacity. The latter is used to interpret the search for knowledge undertaken by firms, which are discussed in terms of their organizational differences and strategic choices. A sample of manufacturing establishments from the electronics cluster in the Toronto metropolitan region (Canada) shows firms that are export-intensive have significantly stronger international input connections, especially with consultants and alliance partners. Export orientation is associated with higher levels of expenditure on the in-house generation of knowledge, more innovation inputs from external sources, and distinctive network geographies. Differences in network relations occur within and between three organizational groups of firms – foreign affiliates, multi-location and single-location domestic firms. Geographically wide-ranging networks are interpreted in terms of opportunities in extra-regional locations compared with local supplies. Regional innovation policy implications are considered.

Industrial dependence and technological underdevelopment: Canadian consequences of foreign direct investment

Britton J. N. H. (1980) Industrial dependence and technological underdevelopment: Canadian consequences of foreign direct investment, Reg. Studies 14, 181–199. Canadas trade failures in secondary and especially in high-technology manufactures over recent decades derive from a lack of high-technology specialisations in the industrial structure. This sympton of underdevelopment has its origins in the direct and indirect effects of foreign control of over half Canadas secondary manufacturing. Innovation and product-development functions have failed to expand in Canada and the centralization of technical, scientific and managerial jobs in the home economies of the multinationals truncates the Canadian industrial system. A new technological strategy is required to combat the combined impact of high costs, low productivity, and insignificant and general technological weakness. The major elements of such a strategy are identified.

Contrasts in Clustering: The Example of Canadian New Media

New media is part of the new information economy, and its roots lie in computer graphics and in creative specialized services used in motion picture production, advertising, and other programming especially for television. This paper examines the similarities and differences between Canadas three new media concentrations in the metropolitan centres of Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. It investigates whether the industry emerged from similar activities and whether differences in the pattern of development in each region explain contemporary new media activities. It evaluates differences in local market opportunities and whether local specializations have emerged. The third focus is on the predominance of small firms in new media and whether there are differences in the social foundations of production.

Path dependence and cluster adaptation: a case study of Toronto's new media industry

The new media cluster in Toronto, Canada has at least 600 firms and collectively they are of national and international significance. In this paper, I establish a research agenda by reviewing the theory of industrial clusters, as it applies to the circulation of knowledge, including ideas about path dependence and their connection with cluster theory. I apply both sets of ideas to the Toronto case. In the absence of official statistical data, I use an employment database to establish the size distribution of firms and to map and explain the spatial distribution of new media in the metropolitan region – a pattern that is highly concentrated in the central area. I use information from interviews with over 50 businesses to evaluate how new media firms in Toronto conform to the cluster model. This paper examines two propositions about Torontos new media development. Firstly, it argues that many new media products and the skills used in their design reflect the developmental trajectory of antecedent activities, especially those related to services for the entertainment sector and the local business market. Secondly, this paper examines the way the new media cluster has demonstrated adaptive strengths in response to the disruptive market shocks of 2001, though without public sector assistance. This paper concludes that to understand learning processes, even in the short run, the dynamic analysis of clusters is a necessary research strategy.

A policy perspective on incremental innovation in small and medium sized enterprises

The increased importance of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in industrial economies is explained and the very large variance in their degree of participation in the innovation process is established. Evidence from Canadian research clarifies the difficulties that smidl and medium sized firms, even in technology intensive industries, experience in developing new products and implementing new designs. Innovation theory is reviewed and the importance of inputs from specialist consultants is established for SMEs undertaking incremental innovation. Transaction costs concepts are then used to explain the difficulties SMEs encounter in arranging these linkages. A recommended form of policy to help to correct this type of market imperfection is derived and used to describe a gap in Canadian policies and to evaluate initiatives in Australia and UK.

The classification of cities: Evaluation of Q-mode factor analysis☆

Abstract Q -mode factor analysis is advocated as a direct method of grouping cities on the basis of similarities in their economic functions. The research background to this paper is reviewed; the major analytical steps in a case study of Ontario-Quebec cities are described; the technical problems of the work are discussed as are the main results of the Q -mode varimax and direct oblimin factor analyses. An evaluation is then made of the technique by employing a two-stage procedure comparable with that in a number of other studies. Not only does Q -mode analysis act as an effective grouping method but it provides information on the structural rationale of the city groups it allows to be formed.

Specialization versus diversity in Canadian technological development

In the new era of liberalized North American trade one of Canadas goals is export-led growth in technology intensive activities. Macro-economic data show that technology intensive specializations are developing but their international success is limited. One reason is that business spends less on R&D in Canada than in most OECD countries. Problems associated with macro data have prompted the use of survey-derived data listing the high-technology products of firms in order to define technological clusters. Most of the firms comprising each cluster are small: the distribution of large producers and R&D labs and the structure of clusters are discussed. Aggregate and micro data are used to establish the localization of technology intensive industry, especially in the Toronto metropolitan region. This is the largest concentration of technology intensive firms and the importance of services as markets and as sources of technology intensive products is established. The conclusion weighs the importance of specialization versus diversity, small firm entrepreneurship versus the importance of large firms, and metropolitan attraction for high-tech firms vs. the chances of medium-sized urban centres.