Spatial Concentration in Relation to Industrial Resilience

Abstract

The resilience of industry has caught much attention since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the literature argues that spatial concentration is beneficial to industrial development, but few reports discuss its impact on industrial survival from a long-term perspective, namely resilience. Therefore, this study tries to answer whether spatial patterns impact the long-term survival performance of the industry through investigating the longevity of production sites. We take the semiconductor industry in the Hsinchu area, Taiwan as a case study and hypothesize that the survival period of production sites in clustered areas is longer than that in non-clustered areas. After conducting the research, it was found that the survival period of production sites in clustered areas is not always longer than non-clustered areas. Our results show that only larger clusters and those with higher degrees of clustering might have advantages toward longer survival, rather than the number of average-sized clusters. Our research pioneers in the field of sustainability by bridging spatial studies and industrial resilience theories. As it explores the resilience of an influential industry in the world, its outputs provide new suggestions for future industrial planning, resource distribution and regional development.