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Since Saxenian’s work on Silicon Valley, the cluster concept is based on the idea that it can be crossed by interindividual relations that are conducive to informal exchanges, which are themselves conducive to the development of scientific and industrial collaborations (Saxenian 1996). The author explicitly refers to Porter’s comparative advantage. Indeed, she attempts to uncover the advantage that Silicon Valley has over its Bostonian counterpart, Route 128. For her, the development of the Californian cluster is strongly linked to the structure of the social networks that cross it. Based on regional data, Anna Lee Saxenian notes that Route 128 created three times fewer jobs in the early 1990s than its Californian neighbor (Saxenian 2000). It was less efficient, particularly in terms of its volume of exports of electronic products and its ability to concentrate the most successful national companies. According to the author, economists neglected the role of social networks in the success of such industrial concentrations, and, for their part, sociologists implicitly accepted this neglect, reinforced by the idea that market processes are not suitable objects for sociological study, since social relations play only a minor role in them (Granovetter 1985). Thus, faced with two distinct industrial systems with similar characteristics (similar technology, set up after the war, etc.), Saxenian proposes an approach based on social networks in order to distinguish them and explain their different developments. For her, Silicon Valley is based on dense learning networks between actors from related technologies that encourage entrepreneurship and experimentation. Competition is intense, but it is supported by informal communication systems that create mutual adjustments and learning.

In the eastern United States, Route 128 is more composed of significant autarkical structures and the links between individuals are therefore characterized by a principle of corporate loyalty (Saxenian 2000). In the relationships between businesses, customers and suppliers, individuals refer first and foremost to the vertical hierarchy of the organization to which they belong, before circulating information horizontally between firms. For Saxenian, the performance of Silicon Valley, or its advantage, to use Porter’s terminology, depends on local social and institutional determinants, such as professional or commercial organizations, far more than economic and fiscal factors (wage differentials, real estate costs, local taxes). For example, The Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International or The Software Entrepreneur’s Forum organize meetings, dinners, seminars and training courses and participate in the creation of these social networks (Grossetti 2004, p. 170). From this point on, we can observe how interactions embedded in a given framework (in this case the businesses in the Valley) can be decoupled in another context (professional association, for example).

In another study of Silicon Valley, Michel Ferrary particularly observes the social networks of the French community living and working in the Valley. These French expatriates meet in “non-economic social institutions” (the French school in Palo Alto, the Maison Française, the film club, French restaurants), ethnic celebrations (the July 14 national holiday, the Beaujolais Nouveau day), newspapers and associations with a more economic purpose (Doing Business in French, Eurotrash, Silicon French). They develop strong ties of friendship, support and appreciation through cultural and social activities during which they meet (Dibiaggio and Ferrary 2003). According to Ferrary, they mobilize this community in the economic activities in which they are engaged. We can therefore see that literature highlights the virtuous development of these territorial concentrations by emphasizing the effects of geographical proximity in the constitution of social networks.