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B2C - Bubble to Cluster: The Dot.com Boom, Spin-off Entrepreneurship, and Regional Industry Evolution

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  • Guido Buenstorf
  • Dirk Fornahl

Abstract

This article studies entrepreneurial activities emerging out of one of Germany’s most prominent dot.com firms: Intershop, a maker of e-commerce software. We show that Intershop spawned at least 30 spin-offs. The majority entered locally, giving rise to a small but growing software cluster and counteracting the job losses accompanying the parent firm’s drastic downsizing after 2000. We trace the knowledge transfer from Intershop to the spin-offs and relate it to recent theorizing on the spin-off process as well as spin-off-based cluster formation. The Intershop case suggests that temporarily successful dot.coms could exert lasting effects on regional development. Length 30 pages

Suggested Citation

  • Guido Buenstorf & Dirk Fornahl, 2006. "B2C - Bubble to Cluster: The Dot.com Boom, Spin-off Entrepreneurship, and Regional Industry Evolution," Papers on Economics and Evolution 2006-20, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    • Handle: RePEc:esi:evopap:2006-20
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Guido Buenstorf & Steven Klepper, 2009. "Heritage and Agglomeration: The Akron Tyre Cluster Revisited," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(537), pages 705-733, April.
    2. Mia Gray & Elyse Golob & Ann Markusen, 1996. "Big Firms, Long Arms, Wide Shoulders: The 'Hub-and-Spoke' Industrial District in the Seattle Region," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(7), pages 651-666.
    3. Guido Buenstorf, 2007. "Evolution on the Shoulders of Giants: Entrepreneurship and Firm Survival in the German Laser Industry," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 30(3), pages 179-202, May.
    4. Buenstorf, Guido & Klepper, Steven, 2010. "Why does entry cluster geographically? Evidence from the US tire industry," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 103-114, September.
    5. Olav Sorenson, 2005. "Social networks and industrial geography," Springer Books, in: Uwe Cantner & Elias Dinopoulos & Robert F. Lanzillotti (ed.), Entrepreneurships, the New Economy and Public Policy, pages 55-69, Springer.
    6. Pier Paolo Patrucco, 2005. "The emergence of technology systems: knowledge production and distribution in the case of the Emilian plastics district," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 29(1), pages 37-56, January.
    7. Steven Klepper & Sally Sleeper, 2005. "Entry by Spinoffs," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(8), pages 1291-1306, August.
    8. Soete, Luc & Verspagen, Bart & ter Weel, Bas, 2010. "Systems of Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1159-1180, Elsevier.
    9. Michael S. Dahl & Christian Ø.R. Pedersen & Bent Dalum, 2003. "Entry by Spinoff in a High-tech Cluster," DRUID Working Papers 03-11, DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies.
    10. Scott Shane, 2000. "Prior Knowledge and the Discovery of Entrepreneurial Opportunities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(4), pages 448-469, August.
    11. Steven Klepper, 2002. "The capabilities of new firms and the evolution of the US automobile industry," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 11(4), pages 645-666, August.
    12. Clive Lawson, 2003. "Technical consultancies and regional competences," Chapters, in: Wilfred Dolfsma & Charlie Dannreuther (ed.), Globalization, Social Capital and Inequality, chapter 5, Edward Elgar Publishing.
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    Cited by:

    1. Dirk Fornahl & Robert Hassink & Claudia Klaerding & Ivo Mossig & Heike Schröder, 2011. "From the Old Path of Shipbuilding onto the New Path of Offshore Wind Energy? The Case of Northern Germany," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(5), pages 835-855, September.
    2. Guido Buenstorf, 2009. "Opportunity spin-offs and necessity spin-offs," International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 1(1), pages 22-40.
    3. Rao, T.V.S. Ramamohan, 2011. "CES as an Organizational Production Function," Indian Economic Review, Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, vol. 46(1), pages 69-81.
    4. S. Bhaduri & H. Worch, 2008. "Past Experience, Cognitive Frames, and Entrepreneurship: Some Econometric Evidence from the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry," Papers on Economics and Evolution 2008-04, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.

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