Interpreting the emergence and development of high technology electronics industry clusters in selected second tier global regions.

Abstract

The thesis focuses on the high technology electronics industry and why and how electronics manufacturing firms emerged, developed and evolved endogenously into dense industry clusters in a limited number of selected, small and relatively isolated second tier cities. These developments occurred in small regions rather than in large established industrial centres. The high technology electronics industry typically produces small volumes of highly complex, high value-added, customisable, intellectual property-based products and systems for commercial, industrial and professional applications in sectors including food, health, security, transport, government, communications, manufacturing, defence, education and research. The high technology electronics industry developed in parallel to the large, typically multinational firms, which mass-produce high volumes of standardised consumer electronics products for personal communication, information and entertainment. The parallel development of these two sectors provides significant contrast since the high technology electronics industry, although significantly larger in revenue and employment than the consumer electronics sector, is less understood by governments and communities. The research examines the widely studied high technology electronics industry in Silicon Valley, California; Cambridge, UK and Austin, Texas, that by incorporating technologies developed in their universities the industry emerged and evolved over decades into dense, interconnected regional clusters of typically smaller firms and related organisations. Knowledge obtained from these exemplar clusters assists the understanding of the origin and development of high technology electronics clusters in the second tier regions of Adelaide and Christchurch. The thesis analyses and quantifies these antipodean electronics industry clusters and adds to the growing literature describing the endogenous emergence and self-organised development of technology-based firms into clusters in small and relatively remote second-tier cities and without the involvement of universities. Endogenous cluster development is contrasted with electronics industry clusters created by government programs in selected regions. The contribution to knowledge is consistent with and builds on the work of Porter (1990b) and Mayer (2011). The thesis recognises that a stimulus other than universities occurred in Adelaide through the establishment in 1947 of Australia’s defence research and development laboratories and in Christchurch through the 1954 start-up of a two-way radio manufacturing firm. Through spin-outs and start-ups the electronics clusters in these two second tier cities have reached the highest density in their respective nations, comparing favourably with the leading global electronics industry clusters. The thesis recognises that in small cities proximity to industry peers facilitates trust and collaboration, and that ethical and reliable behaviour of cluster members is essential in these close-knit communities. The thesis provides case studies of firm and cluster origin and development with cross-regional data comparisons and regional location quotients. Australian statistics on location quotients are not published for the electronics industry and Australian governments generally appear to be unaware of the economic value of the high technology electronics manufacturing industry. With knowledge of electronics industry origin and cluster development government and industry can develop policies and programs for its sustainable development and its major role in the transition of the regional economy of Adelaide from its past dependence on industrial-age manufacturing to its future through knowledge-age industry.