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Since the 1970s, the Australian government has seen the information and communication technology industry as a viable industry for promotion and investment. This paper attempts to empirically evaluate policy initiatives geared towards geographical co-location through a survival analysis of Internet consultancy organisations that were in operation in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory between 1996 and 2003. This will be augmented by anecdotal evidence through interviews done with representatives of organisations sampled from the dataset. It will be shown that co-location in Australia does not offer the necessary resources for survival as predicted by locational economics. Rather, organisational networks that transcend physical displacements are of more importance in ensuring organisational survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Since the 1970s, the Australian government has seen the information and communication technology industry as a viable industry for promotion and investment. This paper will argue that two recent important policy initiatives that concern the information and communication technology industry are influenced by the idea of an impending post-industrial economy and observations of the business environment of Silicon Valley. It will firstly discuss a policy initiative towards investment funding through the creation of ‘incubators’ that is informed by early-age liability theories of organisation. It will secondly discuss the policy initiative towards replicating the business environment of Silicon Valley through the creation of technology parks that is informed by the paradigm of locational economics. It will be shown that despite the positive contributions to the economy that policy interventions in the information and communication technology industry has had, the replication of the business environment of Silicon Valley in Australia should be attempted with caution. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]