A contextual analysis of the spatial concentration and organization of production of the plastics industry in North Central Massachusetts

Much has been written and theorized concerning the emergence of technologically dynamic industrial regions. These regions are characterized by the spatial clustering of small and medium-sized firms into flexible production networks. Economic growth models speak to the virtues of spatially concentrated, inter-linked firms and their ability to quickly respond to changing global market demands. According to these models, emerging industrial clusters and expansive competitive strategies emanate from the collaboration among firms within a region where cooperative yet competitive inter-firm relations create the ability to exploit certain "competitive advantages" in an uncertain global economy.; Empirical case studies of industrial clusters in the United States have included the center of semiconductor production in the Silicon Valley of California and the concentration of mini-computer producers along the Route 128 Corridor in Massachusetts. These so-called "core clusters" have received the greatest attention due to their technological dynamism and global competitiveness. Home-based core clusters also hold an attraction because they offer the potential for comparative case studies with technologically dynamic clusters within other industrialized nations.; Attempts to compare and emulate industrial development patterns in more celebrated geographic regions has limited scholarly research to more advanced industrial sectors of the economy. Mature industrial sectors have received far less attention, despite their growing vitality and contribution to the economic base of their respective regions.; The empirical case study of the plastics industry of North Central Massachusetts uncovered a unique industrial cluster with a distinct spatial pattern and organization of production. The case study and contextual analysis offer a formative perspective on a reemerging industrial region that helped to explain the correlation between the spatial concentration of firms and the local production network.; The conclusions provide a wider and more varied explanation of regional industrial development, and a meaningful framework for the formulation of appropriate reindustrialization policies and strategies. This has clear implications for industrial planning and development practice. Appropriate and successful economic development planning will need to rely more on grounded interpretive research, require greater local capacity building, and consider the development of more formalized networks of institutional support.