Intercommunity relationships and community growth in China's high technology industries 1988–2000

Abstract

In this study, we examine how intercommunity relationships affect the growth of organizational communities. Using a unique panel dataset on 53 technology development communities in China spanning 1988–2000, we found that regional community density, a community's geographic proximity to the nearest community and its domain overlap with the nearest community have an inverted U-shaped relationship with the community's growth. These non-monotonic results suggest that adjacent communities have both mutualistic and competitive effects on each other. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.