The Dictionary of Human Geography

of critical political issues and as an object of
historical and geographical study. cw

Suggested reading
Clark, Golinski and Schaffer (1999); Kors et al.
(2003); Livingstone and Withers (1999); Outram
(2005).

enterprise zone An area in which special
policies apply to encourage economicdevel-
opment. Enterprise zones typically offer tax
concessions and reduced planning and other
regulations to private companies. Critics argue
that their effect is often to move existing jobs
rather than to create new ones, and that they
produce a concentration ofpowerin the cen-
tralstateand a loss of control by thelocal
stateoverdevelopmentstrategies. Enterprise
zones are common in the USA and the UK,
but similar arrangements are found in many
countries, including export-processing zones,
special economic zones (notably in China and
India) and tax- and duty-free zones. jpa

Suggested reading
Ong (2000).

entrepreneurship The geography of entre-
preneurship explores the relationship of entre-
preneurship to space and place; to date,
interest has focused mainly on identifying
the characteristics of places that foster the
formation of businesses in high-technology
industries. This kind of entrepreneurship
has interested economic geographers
because of its presumed importance toinnov-
ationand to regional economic growth and
development. In his review of the literature on
entrepreneurs, networks and economic
development, Malecki (1997) points to the
importance of regional industrial mix, skilled
labour, the spatial concentration oragglom-
erationof similar industries, and networks
that provide access to technology and capital.
He concludes, however, by noting how rela-
tively little is known about the relationship
between entrepreneurship and territory. (For
the entrepreneurial behaviour of places, see
urban entrepreneurialism.)
The culture of entrepreneurship is another
place-based characteristic that affects eco-
nomic development trajectories. In her com-
parison of the high-technologyclustersof
Route 128 outside Boston, Massachusetts
and Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay
Area of California, Saxenian (1994) under-
lines the importance of cultural difference (in
patterns of networking, in degrees of hierarchy

in organizations, and in the amount of formal-

ity expected in the organization of work, for

example) in shaping economic outcomes

(growth versus stagnation).

In view of the degree to which social struc-

tures are gendered and racialized, characteristics

of the entrepreneur affect the relationship of

entrepreneurship to place. Feminist geographers

have pointed to the importance of thegender

of the entrepreneur and the ways in which

gender shapes the meaning of innovation

(what is considered innovative in a place) as

well as an entrepreneur’s access to resources;

female-owned businesses often contribute to

the development of places differently from

male-owned businesses, and women entrepre-

neurs have greater difficulty obtaining bank

loans, although this difficulty varies signifi-

cantly from place to place even within a met-

ropolitan area (Blake and Hanson, 2005).

Entrepreneurship among members of ethnic

groups is facilitated by ethnic ties, some of

which may stretch to other countries, which

enhance access toresources(Zhou, 1998; see

ethnicity).

Much remains unknown about the relation-

ship of entrepreneurship to place and space.

For example, how does local context relate to

the formation and nurturing of firms in non-

high-technology industries? How do different

kinds of businesses and business owners

contribute to local economic and social well-

being? How does local context enable and

constrain the process of business ownership

for different kinds of people? sha

Suggested reading

Blake and Hanson (2005); Malecki (1997).

entropy A measure of the amount ofuncer-

taintyin a probability distribution or asystem

subject to constraints. The term originated

in thermodynamics, but has been used in a

wide variety of contexts, notably ininforma-

tion theoryand as the basis forentropy-

maximizing modelsofspatial interaction.

The concepts of macrostate and microstate

are central to entropy analysis. Consider the

distribution of 100 people into 10 regions:

individual B to region six, individual K to

region four and so on. Amacrostateis an aggre-

gate frequency distribution of people across

regions. Several differentmicrostatesmay cor-

respond to or give rise to the same macrostate:

different individuals go to different regions,

but the frequency distributions are the same.

Entropy measures the relationship between a

macrostate and the possible microstates that

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ENTROPY