8-1-5.chp:Corel VENTURA

Martin Kenney and Urs von Burg advance two claims in this paper. They assert first that the divergent performance of the Silicon Valley and Route 128 economies can be explained by the path-dependent technological trajectories of their leading industries rather than by the organization of their industrial systems. Second, they claim that these regional dynamics are best understood through an analytical separation between established firms and the environment supporting new firm formation. Both arguments are deeply flawed. Moreover, while the authors belatedly recognize the dynamism of the Silicon Valley and Route 128 economies (Florida and Kenney, 1990) they retain a weakness for inappropriate ecological metaphors. They still think firms are like seeds and trees (Saxenian, 1991).