Understanding Silicon Valley: The Anatomy of an Entrepreneurial Region

What has made Silicon Valley such a fertile breeding ground for new technologies and new firms? How did its pioneering achievements begin, and what forces have propelled its uprecedented growth? This volume begins by tracing the development of the electronics industry in Silicon Valley back to the founding of Federal telegraph in 1908, and discusses the role played by defense spending and the relationship with Stanford University. It continues with an assessment of institutions which specialize in new firm formation - law firms and venture capitalists - which, together with labor mobility and close inter-firm relationships, are responsible for Silicon Valley's unique ability to foster technological advances. Finally Silicon Valley is shown to be an ecosystem of interacting institutions, individuals, a culture that encourages and nurtures entrepreneurship and an environment characterized by the development of a trust based on performance, which makes it uniquely permeable to new ideas and talented individuals.