THE CULTURAL DIMENSIONS OF THE IT CLUSTER IN SILICON VALLEY

Silicon Valley (SV) is an information technology (IT) cluster, innovative in multimedia, technology-driven movie-making, e-commerce, virtual reality, and biotechnology. This paper intends to inventory the key dimensions of business culture of the SV region. Business culture is defined broadly per Kohls and Czinkota. It is not limited to the shared values of Hofstede, but also include languages, education, social and economic institutions, and information and communication in a region. Saxenian describes SV’s network-based industrial system as the regional advantage, while Lee’s SV habitat allows the speed of innovation and entrepreneurship. Saxenian, in her later study, notes SV’s new immigrant entrepreneurs as another regional advantage. Southwick (1999) highlights SV’s venture financing. Innovative entrepreneurs flourish in a region that offers free competition,transparency and venture financing. The region must also have the capacity to attract a critical mass of innovative, multicultural and multilingual workforce. The cultural dimensions that support the IT cluster in Silicon Valley are: (A) personal freedom, (B) multiculturalism, (c) venture capitalism, (D) environmentalism, (E) telecommuting, and (F) technology education.