Emerging (internet) industry and agglomeration: Internet entrepreneurs coping with uncertainty

Emerging industries are not rare elements in the economy; rather, they constitute a permanent feature in constantly developing and changing economic environments. However, the emergence of new industries is rarely painless or particularly straightforward processes; actors involved in these processes are confronted with uncertainties of which some are exclusive to emerging industries. A distinctive example of these processes was the emergence of the internet industry in Sweden and the agglomeration of internet firms in central Stockholm. Through three levels of uncertainty: (1) the newness of the technology introduced to the public and the emerging markets; (2) the process of developing new markets and approaching new customers and (3) the renegotiating of pre-existing structures and flexible ways of organizing work and labour, this article argues that agglomerations or local urban milieus play a crucial role to actors (internet entrepreneurs) coping with uncertainty. Agglomerations or urban milieus compose a necessary infrastructure for (1) negotiating industrial legitimacy, and thus establishing structures and procedures in the emerging industry; (2) discovering market opportunities and (3) informal relations necessary in making flexible labour markets efficient.