Entrepreneurial Founder Effects in the Growth of Regional Clusters How Early Success is a Key Determinant

How can the growth of regional clusters be explained? This paper studies in great detail the growth of the wireless communication cluster in Northern Denmark. Unlike the dominant theories, we argue that initial success of the first firms are the main driving force behind the generation of new firms that eventually lead to the formation of clusters. The success of the first firms tends to generate spin-offs, which become successful themselves due to the background of the founders.