The book mainly uses the New Institutional Economics Approach (NIE) to examine the formation and development of industrial clusters in China through multiple case studies of textile and clothing clusters in the Zhejiang province. The micro case studies illustrate the interaction between institutional change and the industrial development of China in transition.

It also attempts to fill the information gap through an analysis of the typical institutional factors leading to the development and upgrading of industrial clusters, and provides a better understanding of the changing nature of the public-private interface in the process of cluster development in China.