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Abstract:
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If the reader would imagine a 500 piece picture puzzle of which only one single piece is available for research , then it is obvious that any conclusions concerning the puzzle as a whole would at the very best be limited to what the researcher could extrapolate from that single piece of the puzzle . This study contends that to comprehend the puzzle it must be viewed as a whole picture , admittedly comprised of different pieces , but nonetheless only accurately understandable in regard to interaction and interconnectivities when viewed from a macro perspective . Accordingly , concentrations should be viewed from a holistic , macro perspective instead of the current view that is isolationist and micro in both nature and practice . Only then can such characteristics as efficiency or effectiveness -seeking be understood in relation to the evolution of concentrations .
Contributions of this exploratory study include an empirically tested taxonomy of cluster concentrations which should preclude miscommunication , and provides practitioners tools for identification of concentration types . This study also conceptualizes the cyclical relationship of efficiency and effective -seeking characteristics in regard to concentrations , and further , provides a graphical illustration of those relationships . A previously unrecognized concentration , Balanced Concentration , is identified . Finally , this study identifies predictors of concentration types and types of infrastructure , and then utilizes these predictors and types of infrastructure in an analysis of differences between developed /developed and developed /developing borders . Further , analysis of borders differences in two time periods , 1990 and 2002 , is performed . |