THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF THIRD WAVE REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES

In an environment of globalization and rapid technological change, entrepreneurship and innovation have become important objectives of state, regional, and local economic development policy. Entrepreneurial focused economic development strategies target state and regional efforts towards policies –such as cluster development, business incubators, regional trade associations, and developing local entrepreneurs and small businesses. If it is imperative that states and regions pursue these strategies, researchers must begin to classify the types of programs that states and localities are using, as well as analyze and document the impact of these policies on knowledge economy variables. This research proposes to add three new and additional elements to this relatively young research stream. This dissertation will address three distinct components of entrepreneurial development policy effort. Manuscript one clarifies and defines a research agenda on business incubators