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ÖgeEvolutionary mechanisms of imprinting in business clusters(Graduate School, 2021-03-10) Ekşi, Emre ; Erçek, Mehmet ; 507102006 ; Management Engineering ; İşletme MühendisliğiDiscussions on regional economic development, specifically on industrial districts and business clusters, since Marshall's (1920) seminal work has surged in numbers, especially after the popularization of cluster studies with Porter (1990), who assigns a prominent role to clusters in microeconomics of competition and competitive advantage of regions and nations. On the other hand, the geographic distribution of resources and potentials for development are shaped by historical factors and regions can be understood through the mechanisms by which geographical landscape evolves over time. In this sense 'Evolutionary turn' is both promising as a new way of thinking about uneven geographical development and presenting an opportunity for linking different concepts and theoretical approaches from different schools of thoughts. Aim of this thesis is to reveal how clusters evolve and in which conditions environmental forces leave their mark on the evolution pattern of business clusters. Instead of employing a nurturist view, this study explores how nature of the cluster firms and nurturing of the environment interact during the variations observed in environments and tries to explain the dynamics of the imprinting processes. Even though spatial evolution of business clusters has been studied in business history and economic geography domains, coherent and holistic view of the phenomenon is still far from formulation. Contribution of this study is to bring an evolutionary model by extending multi-level imprinting theory (MLIT) with a selectionist view and to explain how particular features of business clusters are acquired under the influences of environmental forces. The study, in so doing, synthesizes MLIT and General Darwinism, which are built over analogies between evolutionary biology and evolutionary economic geography and lay the foundation of the basic evolutionary engine as variation, selection and retention processes. The thesis consists of seven sections. In the first section, aim and scope of the thesis is presented, and the flow of the thesis is framed. In the second section, theoretical perspectives on location, regional growth and local development are discussed, theoretical background of business clusters is summarized. In the third section the importance of 'Evolutionary turn' is highlighted, the concepts of evolutionary analysis within the economic landscape are discussed and imprinting theory is presented. In the fourth section, the conceptual model, explaining evolutionary mechanisms of imprinting and how environmental influencers work with evolutionary engine is described, evidences from the empirical literature are presented. In the fifth section, research design is explained, selection of sites and how data are collected and analyzed is justified. In the sixth section, findings related to footwear industry and footwear production clusters in Izmir and Konya are presented. In the last section findings are discussed in the light of conceptual model, how evolutionary mechanisms and engine explain the imprinting success or failure is presented, and new research opportunities for developing the model are offered. The proposed conceptual model aims to contribute to the evolutionary economic geography by extending MLIT in many ways; (i) exploring influence of heredity factors governing access to resources and legitimization forces, (ii) defining how "window of imprintability" works through evolutionary mechanisms, (iii) explaining emulation of imprints through retention process and the role of secondhand imprinting, (iv) describing the role of pioneering firms in the creating founder effect and lastly, (v) clarifying the role of institutional order within group of firms as a constraining factor with its implications on the imprinting process. This study follows a historical case study research which is suitable for exploring the cluster as a contextually bounded system over time. The research setting planned for this study is footwear clusters which is a traditional industry, geographically agglomerated and based on apprenticeship. Before preparing the research questions a preliminary site research is conducted and discussions with highly experienced professionals are made. This also enabled the researcher to be more informed about the research sites in Konya and Izmir. Interview questions were determined after the preliminary site research and compiled in accordance with the conceptual model and its constructs. Data collected by open-ended interviews are triangulated with other secondary data sources like sectoral reports, journals, academic papers and studies, archival records, photograph archives, direct observation and physical artifacts. In the study, data analysis is conducted in four stages. In the first stage background of shoe production in Turkey is explained and current context is clarified with historical facts and figures. In the second stage, sensitive periods related to major economical, technological and institutional changes are investigated. In the third stage, selected areas to be analyzed are justified. In the last stage, imprinting process and their action mechanisms are deeply investigated. Possible imprints on specialization, division of work and cooperation are analyzed, and findings are interpreted according to the conceptual approach. Findings towards specialization showed that the specialization of Izmir footwear cluster in women shoes was affiliated with Westernization efforts in which shoe consumption habits were shaped by liberalized clothing, social life and attendance of women in work life. On the other hand, this WOI did not turn automatically into an imprint. The environmental fit of producers shaped by the local demand enabled them to seize this opportunity and retention was mainly characterized by apprenticeship and spin-offs, which pushed the imprints to stamp a critical mass of the population. Findings in division of work uncovered three cases for deeper analysis. In the case of stitcheries, small stitching workshops found to be sustained since the traditional production era despite the change in the economic conditions. These workshops persisted and attempts to replace this model failed due to unregistered work practices and traditionalization forces of within group fitness, characterized by irregular working hours, seasonality and underdeveloped managerial capacities. These findings showed the importance of both environmental fitness and within group fitness in the imprinting process. The case of Sumerbank was an example of Wrightian-drift. During state led industrialization period, Turkish Republic founded Sumerbank and consolidated all state production facilities including the shoe factory in Beykoz, which was a vertical production giant of its time. The favorable selection niche created by the government did not breed into new mass production facilities and transform into a successful imprint on the industry. The barriers blocking diffusion of vertical production model seems not only to indicate the lack of capital accumulation of producers but also presence of a parallel fit in the crossing niche and lack of physical proximity disabling knowledge dissemination. Moreover, the sensitive period characterized by state led development logic closed in less than two decades. Therefore, retention mechanism did not work, and imprinting attempt was failed. On the contrarily, the socialist imprint in Timişoara footwear cluster which was coeval with the Sumerbank initiative had successfully persisted even after the firms were privatized. This points attention to the importance of retention mechanism and reaching a critical threshold for solidification and persistence of the imprint. Lastly, findings on the Ottoman guilds and their Akhsim roots, which are mostly referred in the discussions of collaboration efforts in Konya, showed that both functions and values possessed by the ancestor of modern collaboration institutions have been mostly vanished. In this sense three sensitive periods are analyzed, foundation period, industrialization and mechanization with liberalization. The evidence supports the view that with the upsurge in competition, individualistic behavior has intensified, and individual fit became more important than group fit after the liberalization and mechanization period. Our conceptual model supports us to propose that liberalization changed the course of social norms and relations and this may lead to an imprint in the future. These findings contributed to the imprinting theory by highlighting the importance of the nature of business clusters, incorporation of a selectionist view and evolutionary mechanisms. The accumulated heredity factors and window of imprintability operating in the imprinting process are both conceptually and empirically explained. Sensitive periods do not automatically result in the evolution of a cluster. Instead, the model affirms that during a sensitive period, the operations in the variation-selection-retention engine, overcoming the pressures of within group fitness and reaching a critical mass in the local populations are prerequisites for successful imprinting.