The various contributors to this volume have made us travel through recent industrial histories in various places across the globe - in Sweden, Norway, Austria, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Israel, Russia, China, Taiwan, Argentina, Canada. Other countries, regions and places have been mentioned in passing. The authors who have guided these travels have their backgrounds in somewhat different theoretical approaches. Yet, they all share in common the kinds of concerns that were outlined in the introduction to this volume (Chapter 1) bearing on the significance of proximate (local/regional) relationships for successful economic interaction, economic performance, and regional development. As a reminder, note that what we will in the following refer to as ‘local’ may mean also ‘regional’. The distinction between these two notions can be made but it is not necessary for our discussion. It may be a contextual matter when economic agents are located ‘in proximity’, or are involved in ‘proximate relations’. It may mean ‘being able to have a face-to-face chat about goings on in our business every once in a while, say, once a month’, or it may mean ‘working together on a daily basis’. Both conditions usually can be fulfilled locally or regionally.

doi.org/10.4324/9781315245768-15, hdl.handle.net/1765/126126
Erasmus School of Economics

Oinas, P., & Lagendijk, A. (2005). Towards understanding proximity, distance and diversity in economic interaction and local development. In Proximity, Distance and Diversity: Issues on Economic Interaction and Local Development (pp. 307–332). doi:10.4324/9781315245768-15