Businesses cluster to achieve agglomeration benefits. However, research in developing countries suggests that the economic environment limits small business’ propensity to benefit from agglomerations. The study examines the location, networking patterns, formal structures and owner characteristics of 1256 micro businesses from ten industries and thirteen sample areas in Toluca, Mexico. First, the thesis analyses whether clustering has a positive impact on the success rates of the surveyed enterprises, e.g. higher sales per employee. On an industry scale only Retail benefits from agglomerations economies. However, results of the neighborhood data show that specific areas benefit from urbanization economies. Overall, the study finds that businesses located within agglomerations, have higher levels of formalization, networking and professional training, hence constituting a more sophisticated base for economic development. Conclusions can be drawn for development policies and programs, arguing for a more differentiated approach of small business development depending on business location and cluster characteristics.

Orientador: Theo Guenter Kieckbusch / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Quimica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-07T06:40:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Martins_PierreCorrea_D.pdf: 10023061 bytes, checksum: 89ac010f9649d69b4042b6a32ddddad2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: A aglomeração de pós é utilizada para melhorar o manuseio das partículas e facilitar sua reconstituição em água. O objetivo principal deste trabalho foi avaliar a influência do tipo e do conteúdo de uma fase lipídica na aglomeração de pós alimentícios. Como alimento-modelo usou-se maltodextrina DE 10 e três diferentes frações de óleo de palma: duas oleínas (pontos de fusão de 14 e 18 °C) e uma estearina (ponto de fusão de 51 °C). Os pós primários contendo lipídeos foram obtidos através da secagem em spray-dryer de emulsões de maltodextrina, óleo e surfactante a 30% p/p. Os ensaios de aglomeração contemplaram pós contendo 5, 10, 15, 20 ou 25% de cada fração de óleo de palma. A umidade, densidade e escoabilidade dos pós diminuíram com o aumento do seu conteúdo de lipídeos. Os pós contendo as oleínas apresentaram maior coesão entre si do que o material com estearina. Os ensaios de aglomeração foram conduzidos em um aglomerador com jato de vapor, em escala piloto. Um planejamento experimental prévio confirmou um aumento significativo do diâmetro dos aglomerados com o aumento da pressão de vapor, do conteúdo de lipídeos dos pós e da temperatura do ar de secagem dos aglomerados. Os ensaios definitivos de aglomeração foram realizados com ar de secagem a 100°C e pressão de vapor de 1,9 bar. As partículas com oleína absorveram menos umidade no contato com o vapor do que o material contendo estearina e o isento de óleo. A influência dos agentes ligantes (umidade e/ou óleo) foi mais importante para o aumento de tamanho dos aglomerados do que a temperatura do ar. Uma pequena adição de óleo (5%) prejudica o mecanismo de aglomeração. Nos pós sem óleo a aglomeração foi controlada pela plastificação da superfície das partículas. Nos pós com alto conteúdo de óleo, sobretudo com as oleínas, a pré-aglomeração devido à alta coesividade das partículas promoveu a formação de grandes e compactos aglomerados. O pó sem óleo produziu aglomerados de melhor aparência e de tamanho similar ou maior do que o produto com 25% de óleo, porém com menor resistência à compressão. Todos os aglomerados apresentaram uma maior facilidade de escoamento em relação aos seus pós originais / Abstract: Agglomeration involves the production of larger and stable particles by aggregation of fine particulated material, in order to enhance flowability, appearance and reconstitution in water. This work evaluated the contribution of an oil phase on the agglomeration mechanisms of food powders. Three different palm oil fractions (two oleins with melting point of 14 and 18 °C and one stearin with melting point of 51 °C) were incorporated to the solid matrix of maltodextrin DE 10. Maltodextrin powders containing lipids were processed by spray-drying emulsions of 30% (w/w) total solids (maltodextrin, lipids and surfactant) content. The emulsions were prepared with 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25% of each palm oil fractions, based on total dry mass. Granulation runs were carried out in a pilot plant steam jet agglomerator. Preliminary experiments performed according to a factorial design indicated an increase of the size of the agglomerates with the increase in steam pressure, lipid content and drying air temperature. The definitive experiments were carried out at a steam pressure of 1.9 bar and air temperature of 100 °C. The influence of the binding agents (moisture and/or oil) was more important than the air temperature. The size increase of maltodextrin powder without oil was controlled by surface plasticization and agglomerates with suitable instant properties were obtained. The influence of moisture content was more important than the oil content for maltodextrins with stearin while the inverse occurred for maltodextrins with olein. Maltodextrins powders containing stearin were less cohesive and showed incomplete surface coating by the lipids facilitating moisture absorption. The pre-agglomeration stage favored the blend of the more cohesive powders and formed larger and more resistent agglomerates. The lower tendency to form pre-agglomerates in powders containing stearin is compensated by higher moisture uptake in the steam section. Small amount of oil degenerated drastically the process. The average size and the mechanical resistance of the agglomerates increased with increasing oil content in the powders. Agglomeration enhanced considerably the flowability of the particles containing oil / Doutorado / Engenharia de Processos / Doutor em Engenharia Química

La crise du logement en France pose la question de la production de foncier pour le logement. Les collectivités locales sont souvent désignées comme responsables majeurs de la pénurie foncière, que ce soit par manque de volonté politique, par manque de moyens, ou par une difficile coordination des échelles de décisions (commune/intercommunalité). Le parti pris de cette thèse est de questionner cette vision en effectuant un travail empirique. Il s’agit alors d’analyser les pratiques et stratégies des collectivités locales (communes et EPCI) en faveur de la mobilisation du foncier à destination de l’habitat. Cette analyse prend comme objet des agglomérations moyennes, le Pays Voironnais (Isère) et le Beauvaisis (Oise), qui doivent aujourd’hui retrouver un dynamisme économique et démographique tout en étant confronté à la crise des finances publiques. Ces territoires ont l’intérêt de présenter des profils de communes très différentes (urbain, périurbain, rural) qui peuvent jouer sur l’appréhension de la question foncière. Un éclairage comparatif est également apporté à partir d’un cas néerlandais (Nimègue). Nous développons une méthode d’analyse empirique en recensant l’ensemble des interventions foncières des collectivités pour identifier les leviers (outils, procédures, etc.) qui ont conduit à la mobilisation des terrains et à la maitrise des projets. Cette méthode permet de redéfinir les contours de ce qu’est concrètement une politique foncière locale, en tenant compte de la diversité des expériences et des modes de faire des collectivités. / The current French housing crisis rises the question of land production for housing development. Local authorities are often considered as the major responsible for the land unavailability, because of their lack of means or of political will, or because of bad scale coordination between local decision-makers (municipalities/multi-municipal administrations). The thesis addresses this view through an empirical study. We analyse practices and strategies of local authorities (municipalities and multi-municipal administrations) in favour of land production for housing development. This analysis applies to medium-sized agglomerations, the Pays Voironnais (Isère) and the Beauvaisis (Oise), which need to stimulate residential and economic development while facing local resources decrease. We find varied municipal profiles (urban suburban, rural) in those territories, which may influence the perception of land issues. Comparison is made with a Dutch case (Nijmegen). For our empirical analysis, we inventory all municipal interventions in land and property, in order to identify the levers (tools, procedures) that supports the land production and the control of housing projects. This method allows us to redefine the outlines of what is actually a land policy, taking into account the diversity of experiences and practices of local authorities. This work questions the obstacles and incentives of local land policies and gives sense to those practices that are rarely expressed as public policies.

A concentração espacial da indústria no Brasil é histórica e o tema de muitos debates, sendo mais uma das persistentes desigualdades brasileiras. O Sudeste e o Sul concentram a maior parte da produção industrial, um cenário que começou a se modificar somente a partir do fim da década de 60 e início da de 70, porém lentamente. Essas aglomerações industriais não são um evento único do Brasil, ocorrendo em vários outros países, levando os economistas a estudarem o porquê das firmas procurarem se localizar geograficamente próximas, mesmo hoje em dia com a evolução dos transportes e das telecomunicações. Assim, entre outras explicações, existem as chamadas economias de aglomeração, que trazem vantagens para as firmas aglomeradas, sendo então uma força centrípeta no processo de organização territorial. Entre essas forças, uma que vem se tornando cada vez mais importante é o transbordamento de conhecimento, que pode ser responsável pelo crescimento das aglomerações mais recentes e pela transformação de algumas antigas. A importância da inovação para o crescimento econômico vem aumentando, conforme os países vão crescendo e diante dos novos paradigmas tecnológicos, como as chamadas economias do conhecimento, que englobam os setores de alta tecnologia como computação, biotecnologia, meios de comunicação, entre outros. Assim, torna-se importante também verificar o grau inovativo das aglomerações, já que o crescimento do Brasil deve ser cada vez mais impulsionado pela inovação tecnológica, como um meio de desenvolvimento mais sustentado e eficaz. Uma forma de medir esse grau inovativo é através das habilidades, perícias, conhecimentos e outras características do mercado de trabalho das aglomerações, analisando se há uma capacidade inovativa incorporada nas características do mercado de trabalho, considerando ainda o nível tecnológico dos setores e as ocupações diretamente associadas à Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento (P&D). Atualmente, a intensidade da concentração no Brasil ainda é grande, e os resultados do presente trabalho revelaram a existência de 17 aglomerações industriais relevantes (AIR) em 2010, sendo que 11 encontraram-se no Sul e Sudeste e concentraram aproximadamente 59% da produção industrial. O resultado central de que ainda há uma enorme concentração territorial da indústria não se altera significativamente ao se considerar outras especificações além do modelo padrão, que foi utilizado para identificar as AIRs. Em compensação, há evidências de que o processo de desconcentração industrial continuou no período de 2000-2010, no entanto ainda sem conseguir alterar significativamente o quadro geral. Além disso, aparentemente a desconcentração intra-regional foi mais intensa que a inter-regional, porém ocorrendo mais no Sul e Sudeste. Os resultados do grau inovativo revelam que o Sul e Sudeste ainda são as regiões mais inovativas, seguidas pelo Nordeste, Centro-Oeste e Norte. Eles também colaboram para a evidência de que o Sul e Sudeste estão conseguindo disseminar a sua infraestrutura e capacidade inovativa para novos polos dinâmicos. As AIRs de Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Caxias do Sul e Belo Horizonte foram as mais inovativas em 2012. Identificaram-se 19 clusters de inovação nesse ano, sendo a maioria do Sul e Sudeste e nenhum do Norte. Em relação à evolução do grau inovativo, destacou-se a região do Rio de Janeiro e de Curitiba-Joinville, enquanto São Paulo permaneceu estável no período de 2003 a 2012. Fora do Sul e Sudeste, destacaram-se as regiões metropolitanas de Recife e Salvador, mesmo que essa última tenha perdido espaço no período analisado. / The spatial concentration of industry in Brazil is historic, and the subject of many debates, being one of the most persistent inequalities in Brazil. The Southeast and Southern regions concentrate most of the industrial production, a scenario that began to change only after the end of the 60s and early 70s, but slowly. These industrial clusters are not a single event in Brazil, occurring in several other countries, leading economists to study why firms seek to locate geographically close, even today with the development of transport and telecommunications. Thus, among other explanations, there are so-called agglomeration economies, which bring benefits to clustered firms, then being a centripetal force in the territorial organization process. Among these forces, one that is becoming increasingly important is the spillover of knowledge, which may be responsible for the growth of recent agglomerations and the transformation of some old ones. The importance of innovation to economic growth is increasing as countries evolve and face the new technological paradigms, such as the so-called knowledge economies, which include the high-tech sectors like computing, biotechnology, media, among others. Thus, it becomes important to also check out the innovative degree of the agglomerations, since Brazil\'s growth must be increasingly driven by technological innovation as a means to more sustainable and effective development. One way to measure this innovative degree is through the skills, expertise, knowledge and other characteristics of the agglomeration\'s labor market, analyzing whether there is a built-in innovative capacity in the labor market, also considering the technological level of the sectors and the occupations directly associated with Research and Development (R&D). Currently, the intensity of concentration in Brazil is still great, and the results of this study revealed the existence of 17 relevant industrial agglomerations (AIR) in 2010, of which 11 met in the South and Southeast regions and concentrated approximately 59% of industrial production. The central result that there is still a huge territorial industry concentration does not change significantly when considering other specifications beyond the standard model, which was used to identify the AIRs. In contrast, there is evidence that the process of industrial decentralization continued in the period 2000-2010, however still unable to significantly alter the overall picture. Also, apparently the intra-regional decentralization was more intense than the inter-regional, but occurring more in the South and Southeast regions. The results of the innovative degree reveal that South and Southeast regions are still the most innovative, followed by Northeast, Midwest and North regions. They also collaborate to evidence that the South and Southeast regions are managing to spread its infrastructure and innovative capacity for new dynamic centralities. The AIRs of Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Caxias do Sul and Belo Horizonte were the most innovative in 2012. It was identified 19 clusters of innovation this year, most in the South and Southeast regions and none in the North region. Regarding the evolution of innovative degree, was distinguished the regions of Rio de Janeiro and Curitiba-Joinville, while São Paulo remained stable from 2003 to 2012. Out of the South and Southeast regions, the highlights were the metropolitan regions of Recife and Salvador, even though the latter has lost ground in the period analyzed.

This thesis concern how retailers reasons regarding where to locate their store. Previous research stipulates that retailers consider several factors that builds Retail Attractiveness when they decide their store location. The purpose of this thesis is to explore how retailers reason when it comes to where to locate their store. The study is conducted in Kristianstad, Sweden, with retailers located either in the city center, at the out-of-town shopping mall, or both. To fulfill the purpose, semi-structured interviews were held with four retailers that made different decision when C4 Shopping was established. Five interviews were conducted, lasting between 25 and 40 minutes. All interviews were held with store owners and decision-makers. A conceptual model was created from existing literature in order to analyze the results. The original model includes the factors Cluster effects, Accessibility, Atmosphere, and Place Attachment. Under the factors there are sub-factors to nuance the factors. The model ultimately leads to Retail Attractiveness. In the revised model three new factors were added: Rent, Safety, and Proximity to Workplaces. One sub-factor was also removed. It is concluded that retailers consider the factors in the revised model, rate the factors, and thereafter decide where to locate. This thesis adds insights on how retailers reason when they decide where to locate their store, and what factors they consider the as the most important. There is also a discussion on how the conceptual model can be used to measure Retail Attractiveness and explain retailers locational decisions in similar cases elsewhere.

A concentração espacial da indústria no Brasil é histórica e o tema de muitos debates, sendo mais uma das persistentes desigualdades brasileiras. O Sudeste e o Sul concentram a maior parte da produção industrial, um cenário que começou a se modificar somente a partir do fim da década de 60 e início da de 70, porém lentamente. Essas aglomerações industriais não são um evento único do Brasil, ocorrendo em vários outros países, levando os economistas a estudarem o porquê das firmas procurarem se localizar geograficamente próximas, mesmo hoje em dia com a evolução dos transportes e das telecomunicações. Assim, entre outras explicações, existem as chamadas economias de aglomeração, que trazem vantagens para as firmas aglomeradas, sendo então uma força centrípeta no processo de organização territorial. Entre essas forças, uma que vem se tornando cada vez mais importante é o transbordamento de conhecimento, que pode ser responsável pelo crescimento das aglomerações mais recentes e pela transformação de algumas antigas. A importância da inovação para o crescimento econômico vem aumentando, conforme os países vão crescendo e diante dos novos paradigmas tecnológicos, como as chamadas economias do conhecimento, que englobam os setores de alta tecnologia como computação, biotecnologia, meios de comunicação, entre outros. Assim, torna-se importante também verificar o grau inovativo das aglomerações, já que o crescimento do Brasil deve ser cada vez mais impulsionado pela inovação tecnológica, como um meio de desenvolvimento mais sustentado e eficaz. Uma forma de medir esse grau inovativo é através das habilidades, perícias, conhecimentos e outras características do mercado de trabalho das aglomerações, analisando se há uma capacidade inovativa incorporada nas características do mercado de trabalho, considerando ainda o nível tecnológico dos setores e as ocupações diretamente associadas à Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento (P&D). Atualmente, a intensidade da concentração no Brasil ainda é grande, e os resultados do presente trabalho revelaram a existência de 17 aglomerações industriais relevantes (AIR) em 2010, sendo que 11 encontraram-se no Sul e Sudeste e concentraram aproximadamente 59% da produção industrial. O resultado central de que ainda há uma enorme concentração territorial da indústria não se altera significativamente ao se considerar outras especificações além do modelo padrão, que foi utilizado para identificar as AIRs. Em compensação, há evidências de que o processo de desconcentração industrial continuou no período de 2000-2010, no entanto ainda sem conseguir alterar significativamente o quadro geral. Além disso, aparentemente a desconcentração intra-regional foi mais intensa que a inter-regional, porém ocorrendo mais no Sul e Sudeste. Os resultados do grau inovativo revelam que o Sul e Sudeste ainda são as regiões mais inovativas, seguidas pelo Nordeste, Centro-Oeste e Norte. Eles também colaboram para a evidência de que o Sul e Sudeste estão conseguindo disseminar a sua infraestrutura e capacidade inovativa para novos polos dinâmicos. As AIRs de Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Caxias do Sul e Belo Horizonte foram as mais inovativas em 2012. Identificaram-se 19 clusters de inovação nesse ano, sendo a maioria do Sul e Sudeste e nenhum do Norte. Em relação à evolução do grau inovativo, destacou-se a região do Rio de Janeiro e de Curitiba-Joinville, enquanto São Paulo permaneceu estável no período de 2003 a 2012. Fora do Sul e Sudeste, destacaram-se as regiões metropolitanas de Recife e Salvador, mesmo que essa última tenha perdido espaço no período analisado. / The spatial concentration of industry in Brazil is historic, and the subject of many debates, being one of the most persistent inequalities in Brazil. The Southeast and Southern regions concentrate most of the industrial production, a scenario that began to change only after the end of the 60s and early 70s, but slowly. These industrial clusters are not a single event in Brazil, occurring in several other countries, leading economists to study why firms seek to locate geographically close, even today with the development of transport and telecommunications. Thus, among other explanations, there are so-called agglomeration economies, which bring benefits to clustered firms, then being a centripetal force in the territorial organization process. Among these forces, one that is becoming increasingly important is the spillover of knowledge, which may be responsible for the growth of recent agglomerations and the transformation of some old ones. The importance of innovation to economic growth is increasing as countries evolve and face the new technological paradigms, such as the so-called knowledge economies, which include the high-tech sectors like computing, biotechnology, media, among others. Thus, it becomes important to also check out the innovative degree of the agglomerations, since Brazil\'s growth must be increasingly driven by technological innovation as a means to more sustainable and effective development. One way to measure this innovative degree is through the skills, expertise, knowledge and other characteristics of the agglomeration\'s labor market, analyzing whether there is a built-in innovative capacity in the labor market, also considering the technological level of the sectors and the occupations directly associated with Research and Development (R&D). Currently, the intensity of concentration in Brazil is still great, and the results of this study revealed the existence of 17 relevant industrial agglomerations (AIR) in 2010, of which 11 met in the South and Southeast regions and concentrated approximately 59% of industrial production. The central result that there is still a huge territorial industry concentration does not change significantly when considering other specifications beyond the standard model, which was used to identify the AIRs. In contrast, there is evidence that the process of industrial decentralization continued in the period 2000-2010, however still unable to significantly alter the overall picture. Also, apparently the intra-regional decentralization was more intense than the inter-regional, but occurring more in the South and Southeast regions. The results of the innovative degree reveal that South and Southeast regions are still the most innovative, followed by Northeast, Midwest and North regions. They also collaborate to evidence that the South and Southeast regions are managing to spread its infrastructure and innovative capacity for new dynamic centralities. The AIRs of Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Caxias do Sul and Belo Horizonte were the most innovative in 2012. It was identified 19 clusters of innovation this year, most in the South and Southeast regions and none in the North region. Regarding the evolution of innovative degree, was distinguished the regions of Rio de Janeiro and Curitiba-Joinville, while São Paulo remained stable from 2003 to 2012. Out of the South and Southeast regions, the highlights were the metropolitan regions of Recife and Salvador, even though the latter has lost ground in the period analyzed.

Essa tese possui dois objetivos que dialogam entre si. O primeiro consiste em investigar a relação existente entre aglomerações urbanas, habilidades e salários, enquanto que o segundo explora a importância da mobilidade interfirma na determinação dos salários e sua relação com o tamanho urbano. No primeiro estudo, a ideia é verificar se os efeitos associados ao aumento do tamanho populacional diferem de acordo com as habilidades ocupacionais dos trabalhadores. Essa análise avança ao considerar as heterogeneidades individuais sob o ponto de vista do que os trabalhadores fazem no posto de trabalho, ao invés de incluir métricas como escolaridade formal. Essa nova perspectiva possibilita interpretar com novos insights a estrutura do mercado de trabalho. Foram utilizadas informações de Maciente (2013) para construir medidas que representam as dimensões cognitiva, social e motora associadas com a ocupação nas quais os indivíduos estão empregados. Além disso, foi utilizada a base da Relação Anual de Informações Sociais (RAIS) para identificar e acompanhar trabalhadores e firmas ao longo do tempo. Através de modelagem via regressões que exploram a estrutura de dados em painel como forma de superar a questão do sorting espacial dos trabalhadores, os resultados sugerem que o prêmio salarial urbano está associado diretamente com as habilidades cognitivas e sociais, mas não totalmente com as motoras. O retorno salarial vinculado com a magnitude dos centros urbanos está fortemente relacionado com as habilidades cognitivas e sociais. O segundo estudo dessa tese analisa a estrutura evolutiva do mercado de trabalho, sob a ótica da mobilidade interfirma. A ideia é discutir a importância da mudança de emprego no mercado de trabalho e sua relação com o tamanho dos centros urbanos. As implicações teóricas que abordam a relação entre mobilidade interfirma e os efeitos sobre os rendimentos dos indivíduos são ambíguas. Indivíduos que mudam de firma possuem diferentes motivações para praticar tal empreitada: voluntária ou involuntária. A distinção entre esses tipos de mobilidade interfirma é uma contribuição para a literatura nacional. Ademais, as transições entre os empregos são encaradas como canais através dos quais as vantagens comparativas das densas metrópoles se manifestam. Do ponto de vista empírico, foram utilizados os microdados da RAIS e a estratégia empírica consiste em explorar o método de efeitos fixos como forma de encontrar o coeficiente de interesse. Os principais resultados mostram que o prêmio salarial urbano associado com a mobilidade interfirma possui uma relação positiva com o tamanho das aglomerações. Quanto maior o porte dos centros urbanos, maior será o efeito salarial vinculado com a mudança de empregador. Além disso, mobilidades voluntárias exibem retornos salariais positivos, enquanto que para as transições involuntárias as evidências são opostas. / This thesis has two objectives that dialogue with each other. The first one investigates the relationship between urban agglomerations, skills and wages, while the second one explores the importance of interfirm mobility to wage determination and its relation to urban size. In the first study, the idea is to verify if the effects associated to the increase in population size differ according to the occupational skills of the workers. This analysis advances by considering individual heterogeneities from the point of view of what workers do at the workplace, rather than including metrics such as formal schooling years. This new perspective makes it possible to interpret the structure of the labor market with new insights. We used information from Maciente (2013) to construct measures that represent the cognitive, social and motor skills dimensions associated with the occupation to which the individuals are employed. In addition, the Annual Social Information Report (RAIS) dataset was used to identify and monitor workers and firms over time. Using regressions that explore the panel data structure as a way to overcome the issue of spatial sorting of workers, the results suggest that the urban wage premium is directly associated with cognitive and social skills, but not totally with the motor ones. The wage return linked to the magnitude of urban centers is strongly related to cognitive and social skills. The second study of this thesis analyzes the structure of the labor market, from the point of view of the interfirm mobility. The idea is to discuss the importance of changing jobs in the labor market and its relation to the size of urban centers. The theoretical implications of the relationship between interfirm mobility with the effects on individuals\' wage are ambiguous. Individuals who change job have different motivations to practice such a transition: voluntary or involuntary. The distinction between these types of mobility is a contribution to the national literature. In addition, transitions between jobs are seen as channels through which the comparative advantages of dense metropolises manifest themselves. From the empirical point of view, the microdata of RAIS were used and the empirical strategy is to explore the fixed effects method as a way to find the coefficient of interest. The main results show that the urban wage premium associated with the interfirm mobility has a positive relation with the size of the agglomerations. The larger the size of the urban centers, the greater the wage effect linked to the change of employer. In addition, voluntary transitions exhibit positive paybacks, while for involuntary ones the evidence is the opposite.

During the past decades, the establishment of external shopping centers have been increasing, causing debates on how they affect the viability and vitality of city centers. Instead of studying them as individual actors that are in competition with each other, it is interesting to examine them as components that together make cities complete trading destinations.  The purpose of this thesis is to study the coexistence and collaboration between different retail agglomerations. Retail agglomeration attributes are implemented to distinguish existing strengths and weaknesses for each trading venue, in order to identify where they complement each other. The research method is qualitative with an abductive approach. Six semi-structured interviews were conducted with respondents who represent different associations.  The findings of the research revealed that city centers and external shopping establishments are able to coexist if they complement each other through their individual offerings and experiences. Different retail agglomerations attract contrasting customer groups, allowing them to coexist. Collaboration between retail agglomerations can be implemented in several ways and can enhance the attractiveness of cities as trading destinations. The collaboration can occur by implementing shared marketing, shuttle bus services or collective events.  This research is limited to only investigating one medium sized city and three retail agglomeration formats. Furthermore, the choice of participants did not include consumers and store owners, which could have provided additional perspectives. The findings contribute to the study field by highlighting how retail agglomerations can coexist and collaborate and can be useful for other medium sized cities.

Organized Industrial Zones (OIZs) are used as a main and important industry policy tool in Turkey. In 2012, the number of OIZs is 263 with 148 active and 115 planned ones. Network between the firms reveal the knowledge spillovers which is inevitable for economic growth of a country for neo-classical economists. In this thesis, existence of intra-OIZ and intra-industry knowledge spillovers in Ankara and Istanbul is tested by the help of an export decision function. As it considers the spatial dependence between the regional units the spatial econometric method is preferred for the analysis. The data set is taken from the &ldquo / Field Research Survey&rdquo / of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization (SMEDO). It consists of 62,137 firm level observations from 24 manufacturing industries in 81 provinces between 2004 and 2007. After the cleaning process of the data, 1545 and 1172 observations are left for Ankara and Istanbul, respectively. The results show that the size of the firm (which is proxied by logarithm of total labor), technology (which is proxied by computer usage), organizational proximity and foreign language knowledge of the administrator are the common determinants of export decision for Ankara and Istanbul for both intra-IOZ and intra-industry relations when spatial dependence is not ignored. Besides these variables, in Ankara percentage of high skilled labor is significant while in Istanbul cluster proximity is significant. Moreover, for Ankara while for intra-OIZ relations the spatial effect is one third of the total effect, it is one fourth of the total effect for intra-industry relation. For Istanbul one fourth of the total effect is from spatial effects for both intra-OIZ and intra-industry relations.

Clusters are spatial agglomerations of firms in related industries. Although industry clusters have existed for centuries, the cluster concept has only recently been formulated in economic terms and has begun to attract considerable interest from scholars and policymakers over the last 20 years. A vast literature has examined all kinds of clusters and how clustering relates to innovation, growth, and other forms of economic performance of firms and regions. The cluster concept has provided a framework for thousands of national, regional, and local initiatives around the world. Yet, both research and policy efforts have yielded varying and sometimes contradictory results. This dissertation revisits some of the most basic questions about clusters. Using an approach that treats agglomeration and proximity effects as separate but related phenomena, it examines three fundamental aspects of clusters. First, it proposes a way to measure agglomeration more accurately and presents more detailed data on clusters in Europe than have previously been available. Second, it analyses the benefits of clusters for new firms and for regions. Third, it examines how clusters are “organised” through cluster initiatives. The results presented here carry implications for the study of clusters in economic geography, strategic management, and cluster policy research. They also contribute to our knowledge of cluster organisations and are of interest to both policymakers and cluster practitioners. Göran Lindqvist is a researcher at the Center for Strategy and Competitiveness at the Stockholm School of Economics. He has published books and articles about clusters and cluster policy, and he has conducted numerous cluster-related projects for international and national public agencies in Europe and the USA. www.sse.edu/csc / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2009 Sammanfattning jämte 7 uppsatser</p>