Time and space in business: dynamic geographic concentration and localized industry life cycle

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to theorize how the industry life cycle unfolds differently across places and how economic agglomeration varies over time. Design/methodology/approach The paper relies on literature review and conceptual analysis. Findings It generates a dynamic geographic concentration model (i.e. an industry’s degree of geographic concentration drops in the growth stage, rises in the mature stage, and drops again in the new growth stage) and a localized industry life-cycle model (i.e. temporal dynamics differ between the center and the periphery). Originality/value It makes contribution by theorizing that the extent to which an industry is geographically concentrated changes over time, and by demonstrating how an industry’s center and periphery may experience different temporal dynamics.