Agglomeration research investigates the geographic concentration of economic activity. The authors explicate the various explanations for this phenomenon while focusing on a particular class of agglomerations—the spatial concentrations of related firms . The authors review theoretical explanations and empirical evidence around the performance implications of clustering in proximity to related firms. Moreover, they motivate future research by identifying challenges facing researchers in this area and discuss eight distinct groups of research questions with the potential to contribute to the continuing growth of this important research area.

Research summary: Existing research describes a broad range of determinants of new product development (NPD), a fundamental competitive activity of firms. A considerable share of this work has occurred in the context of developed economies, raising a concern that some important determinants may remain unexamined. We suggest that one such determinant is competition from informal (unregistered) firms. Drawing from the attention‐based view, we investigate the effects of informal competition on NPD in a large sample of firms located across Eastern Europe and Central Asia. We examine not only the direct effect but also how this effect is moderated by characteristics of the competitive and institutional context. Managerial summary: The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between competition from informal (unregistered) firms and new product development (NPD) by formal firms. We argue that NPD is an effective response to differentiate from informal firms, and our analyses of over 9,000 firms located in emerging economies across Eastern Europe and Central Asia indicate that NPD activities are more likely in formal firms who rate informal competition as a greater obstacle. The strength of this direct relationship depends on aspects of the competitive and institutional environment: it is weakened when levels of competition from other formal firms are higher, when alternative responses such as corruption are more available, and when managers are more optimistic about the regulatory environment. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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We contribute to the behavioral theory of the firm and the behavioral agency model by developing a theoretical framework that predicts the differential interaction effects of performance feedback and values of stock option grants of multiple agents on firm risk taking. We explain how chief executive officers (CEOs) versus outside directors awarded with stock option grants perceive negative or positive deviations from prior performance. We argue that in a negative attainment discrepancy context, high values of option grants will increase the risk aversion of CEOs who already bear excessive employment and compensation risks, resulting in less risk taking; however, it will enhance the risk-taking propensity of influential outside directors who increase monitoring and support for risky projects because their risk preferences are better aligned with those of shareholders. In a positive attainment discrepancy context, high values of option grants will amplify risk aversion in both CEOs and outside directors who perceive risky strategies as potential threats to anticipated incentive values associated with a gain domain, thereby reducing risk-taking activities. Analysis of panel data from 1992 to 2006 on the research and development spending of U.S. manufacturing firms based on Arellano–Bond dynamic panel regression reveals findings largely consistent with our predictions.

In contrast to the traditional approach that typically views entry solely as a threat, we argue that our understanding of this important phenomenon will remain incomplete until we consider the possibility that entry may also provide opportunity for incumbent firms. Drawing from agglomeration theory, which describes the benefit from colocating with competitors, we explicitly examine the combined impact of the competitive and agglomeration effects of entry using a unique dataset of Texas hotels. We find that incumbent establishments price higher when facing entrants whose agglomeration benefits are more likely to outweigh their competitive effects. This association is stronger for incumbents that have greater experience with entry. Our results bring a new perspective to the entry response literature helping clarify inconsistent empirical results. Further, we apply agglomeration theory to a new question, incumbent behavior, and demonstrate that experience appears to play an important role in recognizing situations that generate agglomeration externalities. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.