How Stories Shape Regional Development: Collective Narratives and High-Technology Entrepreneurship in Waterloo, Canada

Abstract

abstract The Waterloo region in Canada has emerged as an unlikely competitor in high-technology markets, challenging theories based on path dependency, population density, anchor firms, and military spending. While theorists and residents attribute the rise of high-technology entrepreneurship to cooperation, evidence of collaboration is sparse. This article resolves this puzzle by explaining how ideas can coordinate action in loosely coupled systems. Dense, cross-cutting civic networks may not have supported task-specific cooperation, but they facilitated the construction and diffusion of collective narratives. Conventionally understood to leverage locational assets, the Waterloo case demonstrates how storytelling can also soften geographic constraints. Success stories inspired entrepreneurs by reconceptualizing what was possible, peer-to-peer mentoring helped firms to navigate local constraints, and external marketing enabled the region to access resources it could not mobilize internally. By documenting the importance of storytelling as a form of collective action, the Waterloo case illuminates a broader array of strategies available to local change agents and smaller regions.