African, Brazilian, Mexican, Peruvian, Indian, Pakistani and Indonesian cases are presented. Besides the very rich case studies and a good introduction by the editors the issue contains a good article on differentiating policies to promote clusters. The special issue certainly gives the impression that there is a lot of scope for developing clusters in developing countries and that we know how to do it. He argues that Victorian clusters in the UK responded to communication constraints, low economies of scale and localised market. Nowadays large establishments repel rather than attract their industrial kin.
Spatial concentration depresses the rate of formation of new firms relative to dispersed industries.
Finally he notes a definitional vagueness, big differences between sectors and an emphasis on successful cases. The coin seems to have two sides. Certainly, we can learn from Perry that it is very valuable that we are critical about research on industrial clusters, which seems to offer wonders. References Perry, M. 1999. Clusters last stand, a comment.