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From Silicon Valley to Singapore: Leveraging Location for International Competitive Advantage
Abstract
Research on international competition and industrial clustering generally focus on the home-based advantages of the firm. Both business strategists and industrial sociologists emphasize that competitive advantage is created and sustained through a highly localized process of accumulation of skills and technologies within industrial districts and clusters. Although identifying critically important processes at work behind industry competitiveness, this research is unnecessarily restrictive in its geographic scope and ignores the dynamic quality of location. Evidence from the worldwide disk drive industry - informally dubbed high tech's "extreme sport" - suggests, rather, that by establishing operational clusters outside its home base -- in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand -- American industry was able to sustain its international leadership. The formation of offshore industrial clusters can complement the advantages an industry derives from its national base. The evidence from the disk drive industry points to potential extensions and applications across other industries.
About the Speaker
David G. McKendrick is Research Director of the Information Storage Industry Center at the University of California, San Diego, and co-author of From Silicon Valley to Singapore: Location and Competitive Advantage in the Hard Disk Drive Industry (Stanford University Press, 2000). His research focuses on industry dynamics, the evolution of international competition, and the effects of geographic dispersion on innovation and learning in multinational corporations. Prior to joining UCSD, he taught in the business schools at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Texas at Dallas. He received his Ph.D. in business from the University of California, Berkeley.
We are pleased to invite you and your colleagues to attend the talk. As there are limited number of seats available, please register for the talk via email to
Joanne (cmtsimbh@nus.edu.sg)
with your name, designation and company/institution (and email add if via fax),
by 13 March 2001. Please forward this invitation to your friends and colleagues who may be interested. Admission is free
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