This paper outlines the prospects for the development of sophisticated industry in peripheral and semi-peripheral areas. The debate on this issue usually presents a rigid and bifurcated image of large capital-intensive plants in the periphery and the seemingly unyielding concentration of R&D in central locations. A major claim here is that this image can be softened-up if a more integrative definition of the term ‘technology’ is taken. A methodological approach for assessing the level of technology of the industrial branch is therefore introduced. A multi-dimensional approach is adopted that classifies industries into ‘technological profiles’ based on the different combinations of aspects of technology that they embody. This methodology is applied empirically to a data-set based on sub-branches of Israeli industry at the SIC three-digit level and the main industrial characteristics of the technological profiles are analysed. Having established the industrial consistency of the technological profiles, their spatial behaviour is addressed with a view to identifying those profiles with a tendency to disperse to the national periphery and those with a tendency to concentrate in central areas. Evidence from Israel shows that two types of profile can exist in peripheral areas: operations that use sophisticated production processes and under certain conditions and, at particular scales of activity, small-scale R&D operations not requiring large capital investment. Finally, the industrial characteristics needed to sustain the above process are outlined. In the case of Israel it is shown that those characteristics relating to the inputs (especially quality of labour), rather than those relating to the outputs or spatial linkages of the production process, are likely to act as the main constraints to the development of sophisticated industry in peripheral areas.

This paper contends that most definitions of what comprises a “high technology” industry are based on only one defining characteristic. It is argued that an adequate definition needs to be based on a multi-dimensional view of technology and a methodological approach is suggested for classifying industrial sectors into “technological profiles” on the basis of the various aspects of technology that they embody. Based on this methodology, an empirical study based on sub-branches of Israeli industry (at the 3 digit SIC level) is presented. Using cluster analysis and analysis of variance it is shown that the technological profiles have similar industrial, and not just technological, characteristics. The policy implications of these findings point to the need for a definition of “high technology” that caters to the policy needs and objectives for which it is being defined.

המאמר הנוכחי מניח כי רוב ההגדרות של המושג תעשייה בעלת "טכנולוגיה גבוהה" מבוססות על מאפיין מגדיר אחד בלבד. אנו טוענים כי הגדרה נאותה חייבת להתבסס על תפיסה רב-ממדית של מושג הטכנולוגיה, ומציגים גישה מתודולוגית לסיווג ענפי תעשייה "לטיפוסים טכנולוגיים" על סמך ההיבטים השונים של הטכנולוגיה שהם מייצגים. בהסתמך על מתודולוגיה זו, אנו מגישים בדיקה אמפירית מבוסס על ענפי-משנה של התעשייה הישראלית (ברמת שלוש ספרות בסווג האחיד של ענפי התעשייה). השימוש בניתוח אשכולות ובניתוח שונות מאפשר לנו להראות כי לפרופילים הטכנולוגיים שהוגדרו יש מאפיינים

A causal model is presented that predicts the relationship between the organizational structure and location of the high technology firm on the one hand and its R&D employment intensity on the other. The organizational structure of the firm is treated in two ways. The intra-organizational (internal) structure of the firm is analysed and found to be significantly and negatively related to the level of R&D employment in the firm. This is contrary to the hypothesisied direction of relationship. Variables representing the inter-organizational environment of the firm however are found to be associated with R&D employment intensity in the manner expected. The results further show that R&D employment intensity is positively associated with metropolitan location unmediated by the effects of firm size. This suggests that small high technology firms due to their “liability of newness” and large firms due to their complex inter-organizational environments are dependent on a metropolitan location.