Deck 12: Clusterswhy Do Proximity and Place Matter

Question 1

Alfred Weber developed a general theory of location that could explain the spatial distribution of:

A) Consumption activities
B) Marketing activities
C) Production activities
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Answer 1

Production activities

Question 2

The _____________ model of industrial location explains why dominant industries locate close to energy and raw material sources and to transportation networks.

A) Least cost
B) Expenditure cost
C) Sunk cost
D) Fixed cost
E) Dominant cost

Answer 2

Least cost

Question 3

In industrial location theory, transportation costs are shaped by the ____________ of the materials to be shipped a with that of the final products to be taken to market.

A) Use value
B) Weight
C) Quality
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Answer 3

Weight

Question 4

Transportation costs are further shaped by the distances over which _____________ must be transported.

A) Materials
B) Products
C) Inputs
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 5

Weber derived a basic unit of cost, the ________________, with the locational decision then becoming a search for the point when the total ton-mileage of a given production and distribution process was at a minimum.

A) Ton-mile
B) Locational coefficient
C) Minimal point
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 6

Industrial location theory posits that when the optimum location is drawn toward the raw materials sources, the manufacturing process is:

A) Weight-gaining
B) Weight-losing
C) Labor-gaining
D) Labor-neutral
E) None of the above

Question 7

Industrial location theory posits that when the optimum location is drawn toward the market site, the manufacturing process is:

A) Weight-gaining
B) Weight-losing
C) Labor-gaining
D) Labor-neutral
E) None of the above

Question 8

__________________ interdependencies can be best summarized as the social and cultural bases of economic clusters.

A) Counterintuitive
B) Deferential
C) Untraded
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 9

These are processes whereby firms shed many activities and purchase them instead from their suppliers in order to focus on core competencies.

A) Vertical integration
B) Vertical reintegration
C) Vertical disintegration
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 10

Weber's approach to location theory has been critiqued because his model:

A) Unfolds on a featureless surface that bears little resemblance to real places
B) Assumes that industrial decision makers have access to perfect information
C) Prioritizes transport costs
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 11

______________ economies can be accrued within a firm by producing at larger volumes-i.e., "economies of scale."

A) Internal
B) Peripheral
C) Secondary
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 12

The continued agglomeration of economic activity in an era of _______________________ seems rather counterintuitive.

A) "Space-shrinking" technologies
B) Advanced transportation infrastructure
C) Modern communications networks
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 13

Agglomeration economies ______________________ for individual firms locating within a particular cluster.

A) Lead to smaller pools of qualified labor
B) Offer cost savings
C) Diminish revenues
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 14

_______________ interdependencies and can be accrued through firms co-locating in a cluster aside suppliers, partners, and customers with which they have formal trading relationships.

A) Traded
B) Formal
C) Adjacent
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 15

Vertical disintegration creates more _______________ transactional relationships within a particular sector.

A) Intra-firm
B) Inter-firm
C) Contra-firm
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 16

Untraded interdependencies are constituted by intangible sets of skills, attitudes, habits, and conventions that become associated with particular forms of ________________ production.

A) Specialized
B) Generalized
C) Simplified
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 17

Localized interpersonal interaction is thought to be particularly important for the transfer of what is known as _____________ knowledge.

A) Opaque
B) Transparent
C) Direct
D) Codified
E) Tacit

Question 18

This form of knowledge can be made tangible through, for example, writing it down or creating a diagram.

A) Opaque
B) Transparent
C) Indirect
D) Codified
E) Tacit

Question 19

The ongoing circulation of key personnel is often referred to as staff:

A) Practice
B) Turnover
C) Upgrading
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 20

Gossip between workers in different firms represents which form of interdependency?

A) Counterintuitive
B) Deferential
C) Untraded
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 21

Gossip is one example of the numerous mechanisms for transferring tacit knowledge that do not depend on _______________ relationships between two firms.

A) Contractual
B) Formal
C) Legal
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 22

When discussing institutional thickness at the regional scale, the term "institution" is used to refer to a wide variety of ___________ organizations that are an integral part of regional economies.

A) Inter-firm
B) Intra-firm
C) Non-firm
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 23

Regions endowed with a beneficially "thick" range of institutions engender ______________ economic cultures and a strong regional capacity for innovation.

A) Static
B) Anti-growth
C) Stagnant
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 24

Institutional thickness is constituted by which of the following elements:

A) The range of institutions seeking to promote growth in a particular region
B) The level and effectiveness of the cooperation among institutions in a particular region
C) The emergence of a collective voice for a particular region when bargaining for resources with authorities at the national and supranational scales
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 25

A positive outcome of institutional thickness will be a regional economy characterized by:

A) Flexible institutions
B) Ongoing innovation
C) High levels of trust
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 26

This term is used by some geographers to describe successful territorial ensembles of production and innovation.

A) Learning regions
B) Future clusters
C) Economic zones
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 27

This is an example of an important regional institution that contributes to institutional thickness at the regional scale:

A) Universities
B) Chambers of commerce
C) Technology-promotion agencies
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 28

These types of clusters provide business service activities such as financial services, advertising, law, accountancy, and so on, and are often concentrated in the central districts of leading or "global" cities.

A) Business service clusters
B) State-anchored clusters
C) Consumption clusters
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 29

This disparate category of clusters has developed due to the location decisions of government facilities, such as universities, defense industry research establishments, prisons, and government offices.

A) Business service clusters
B) State-anchored clusters
C) Consumption clusters
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 30

The theater districts of the London's West End and New York's Broadway offer specific examples of this type of cluster, as do the many retail and entertainment districts of Tokyo (e.g., Shibuya) and Shanghai (e.g., Xin Tian Di).

A) Business service clusters
B) State-anchored clusters
C) Consumption clusters
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 31

These types of clusters are often found in industries such as clothing, where work is characterized by sweatshop conditions and often very high levels of immigrant labor. Firms are involved in tight subcontracting networks, and may also use home-workers.

A) Production satellite clusters
B) High-technology innovative clusters
C) Flexible production hub-and-spoke clusters
D) Design-intensive craft production clusters
E) Labor-intensive craft production clusters

Question 32

These clusters are characteristic of "new" after-Fordist sectors such as computers and biotechnology. These clusters tend to have a large base of innovative small and medium-sized firms and flexible, highly-skilled labor markets.

A) Production satellite clusters
B) High-technology innovative clusters
C) Flexible production hub-and-spoke clusters
D) Design-intensive craft production clusters
E) Labor-intensive craft production clusters

Question 33

In these clusters, a single large firm, or small group of large firms, buys components from an extensive range of local suppliers to make products for markets external to the cluster. These clusters represent the spatial logic of just-in-time production systems.

A) Production satellite clusters
B) High-technology innovative clusters
C) Flexible production hub-and-spoke clusters
D) Design-intensive craft production clusters
E) Labor-intensive craft production clusters

Question 34

These clusters represent congregations of externally owned production facilities. These range from relatively low-tech assembly activity, through to more advanced plants with research capacity, but all are relatively stand-alone.

A) Production satellite clusters
B) High-technology innovative clusters
C) Flexible production hub-and-spoke clusters
D) Design-intensive craft production clusters
E) Labor-intensive craft production clusters

Question 35

These refer to dense agglomerations of small and medium-sized firms specializing in the high-quality production of a particular good or service. They are characterized by a highly disintegrated production system in which individual firms perform specialized and narrowly defined roles.

A) Production satellite clusters
B) High-technology innovative clusters
C) Flexible production hub-and-spoke clusters
D) Design-intensive craft production clusters
E) Labor-intensive craft production clusters

Question 36

Geographical dispersion creates different challenges of _________________ for firms.

A) Integration
B) Coordination
C) Management
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 37

Clusters essentially act as centers of __________________ transfer and control within wider global networks.

A) Commodity
B) Tacit knowledge
C) Codified knowledge
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 38

This term describes nearness created through operating within the same legal and institutional frameworks as others (e.g., within the German economy and the EU).

A) Institutional proximity
B) Cultural proximity
C) Elastic proximity
D) Organizational proximity
E) Relational proximity

Question 39

This is a type of nearness engendered through both written rules and codes, and unwritten ways of doing things within a particular firm or institution (e.g., the corporate culture of a large transnational firm).

A) Institutional proximity
B) Cultural proximity
C) Elastic proximity
D) Organizational proximity
E) Relational proximity

Question 40

This type of nearness is derived from a shared cultural heritage and linguistic background (e.g., the Irish, Jewish, or Chinese diasporas).

A) Institutional proximity
B) Cultural proximity
C) Elastic proximity
D) Organizational proximity
E) Relational proximity

Question 41

This describes closeness derived from informal interpersonal relations (e.g., -standing friends in distant places).

A) Institutional proximity
B) Cultural proximity
C) Elastic proximity
D) Organizational proximity
E) Relational proximity

Question 42

Why is the production of soft drinks and cars more likely to be located closer to markets? Are these manufacturing processes weight-gaining or weight-losing?

Question 43

Provide three concrete examples for how institutional thickness may foster untraded interdependencies between Hollywood firms in a film industry cluster.