The co-location of innovation and production in clusters

ABSTRACT

This paper quantifies the extent of co-location of innovation and production for industry clusters with varying knowledge intensity. If input-output, knowledge, and skill linkages are interdependent and geographically bounded, then we would expect innovation and production to be co-located in regional clusters. However, theory predicts that the degree of agglomeration benefits associated with co-location may vary across economic activities with different knowledge intensity. Using data from the U.S. Cluster Mapping Project, I develop measures of the co-location of innovation and production for 27 industry clusters, examining patterns across regions and over time (1998–2015) in the United States. I find that there is a significant co-location of innovation and production for many clusters, especially for those with higher knowledge intensity. This paper focuses on the Information Technology and Analytical Instruments cluster and the Automotive cluster to illustrate the co-location measures and the micro-geography of innovation and production.     

The Dependence of Innovativeness on the Local Firm Population—An Empirical Study of German Patents

Local clusters and the co-location of firms are repeatedly related to a high level of innovativeness in the literature. The underlying argument is that firms that are co-located with other firms of the same industry undertake more innovation than “lonely” firms because of spillovers, local labour markets and cooperations. These arguments are tested here for four industries in Germany. To this end, four different hypotheses about the impact of co-location on the innovativeness of firms are formulated and empirically compared. The results show that the innovativeness of firms indeed depends on the existence of other firms in the same region. However, the relationship between co-location and innovation output depends on the industry studied.     

Do systemic innovation intermediaries broaden horizons? A proximity perspective on R&D partnership formation

ABSTRACT

As systemic innovation intermediaries (SII) orchestrate interactions between innovative actors, they might alleviate the constraints of proximity effects on R&D partnership formation. We test this for existing and new R&D projects established under the Dutch Topconsortia for Knowledge and Innovation. Regression results show that partnerships between firms belonging to the same SII are less sensitive to cognitive proximity, suggesting that the intermediaries facilitate uncommon distant collaboration. At the same time, we find that SII may strengthen social proximity among partners. The influence of organisational proximity seems independent of SII, while geographic proximity loses relevance after the introduction of the intermediaries. SII thus seem to create bridges between distant firms that otherwise may not have collaborated together, while also enhancing the risk of excessive in-group thinking. We conclude with research and policy implications.     

When does the diverse partnership of R&D alliances promote new product development? The contingent effect of the knowledge base

Diverse R&D alliance partnerships not only provide access to broad external knowledge but also bring considerable expenses caused by transaction costs and absorption problems. The effective utilization of external knowledge in developing new products is closely related to the internal knowledge base. This study examines how firms' knowledge base properties influence the relationship between diverse R&D alliance partnerships and NPD performance. We empirically find that increases in firms' knowledge complementarity reinforce the positive impact of diverse alliance partners on NPD performance, but increases in firms’ knowledge substitutability attenuate. These findings offer valuable managerial implications that firms should commit more seriously to their internal knowledge base so that they can achieve higher NPD performance when establishing R&D alliances with external actors.     

Labour mobility and organisational proximity: routines as supporting mechanisms for variety,skill integration and productivity

The aim of this paper is to introduce an organisational dimension to the discussion of knowledge flows and relatedness. We hypothesise that not only the degree of technological relatedness influence the extent of skill integration in a firm but also that familiarity with firm routines (intra-organisational proximity) should smoothen absorption. Longitudinal micro-data are used in pooled ordinary least square- and fixed effect models to estimate the impact on plant productivity growth of 18,051 labour flows within, and to, four large Swedish firms between 2003 and 2006. Our findings suggest that intra-regional related flows are economically beneficial. Their link to localised capabilities and community creates a weaker but more productive link between individuals than do organisational proximity, which generate too much similarity to allow for cognitively related inflows to impact productivity growth. Also, we find a positive relationship between unrelated flows and plant performance.     

Linking content and technology: on the geography of innovation networks in the Bergen media cluster

Abstract

This paper deals with the geography of innovation networks and analyses combinatorial knowledge dynamics from a single cluster perspective. Addressing firms in the media cluster in Bergen, Norway, we examine how and from where companies acquire and combine different types of knowledge for their innovation activities. The empirical analysis, which is based on structured interviews with 22 media companies, identifies two main types of cluster firms: media content providers that rely heavily on symbolic knowledge and media technology providers that draw mostly on synthetic knowledge. Even though they draw on different knowledge bases, the two types of firms are strongly interlinked in their innovation activities and source knowledge from each other. Furthermore, we find that synthetic firms constitute a gateway to the regional R&D system and that the region acts as key arena for the combination of dissimilar knowledge bases.     

Going local: placing entrepreneurial microgeographies in a larger regional context

ABSTRACT

As cities seek to promote innovation, they are increasingly investing in localised institutional entrepreneurial supports. Some institutions are hyperlocal, operating within distinct geographic sub-spaces and funnelling entrepreneurial ventures within spatially bounded microgeographies. In this paper, we focus on the University of North Carolina, where actors from the business school helped build a unique web of hyperlocal entrepreneurial supports that reinforced core educational and research missions but also culminated in proximate university business incubators. We examine how this programmatic changes correspond to a marked increase in entrepreneurial intensity as well as ageographic tightening of firms in and around the campus. Yet we also find evidence for an additional effect, namely an earlier launch of entrepreneurial firms based on less-tested technologies. The results speak to the power of institutional actors in shaping entrepreneurial activities while raising broader questions about the impact of university programming on regional industry and innovation.     

On the Shoulders of Giants: Co-location with Dominant Firms in the Emerging Fiber Optics Industry

In this study we investigate the location choices of start-ups and established firms relative to dominant firms in the US fiber optics industry from 1976 to 1994. We test the propensity to co-locate with dominant firms and whether proximity to a dominant firm impacts the strategic choices made by start-ups and established firms. Contrary to our predictions, we find that both start-ups and established firms are equally likely to co-locate with dominant firms. We also find that start-ups exhibit greater new product adoption rates and greater product-line breadth than established firms. This implies that start-ups are relatively more likely to realize greater strategic gains with entry into emerging markets.     

The Road Taken: Origins and Evolution of Employment Systems in Emerging Companies

Drawing on a unique archive of qualitative and quantitativedata describing 100 Bay Area high technology firms within theirfirst decade, this paper examines the models of employment relationsespoused by company founders and how those models shaped theevolution of human resource management within their organizations.Information gleaned from interviews suggests that founders andothers involved in designing and launching these companies hadblueprints for the employment relation that varied along threekey dimensions: the primary basis of employee attachment andmotivation, the primary means for controlling and coordinatingwork, and the primary criterion emphasized in selection. Basedon combinations of these three dimensions, firms in our samplecluster fall into one of four distinct types, which we labelthe star, factory, engineering, and commitment models. Multivariatestatistical analyses document how the founder's employment modelshaped the subsequent adoption and timing of various human resourcepolicies and documents over these companies' early histories,as well as the speed with which the first full-time human resourcemanager was appointed. The findings are strongly suggestiveof complementarities and a tendency toward internal consistencyamong dimensions of human resource management, and of strongpath dependence in the evolution of employment systems in organizations.Some implications of these findings for transactions cost perspectiveson the employment relationship are discussed.     

Small worlds,inheritance networks and industrial clusters

The performance of firms within industrial clusters has been the subject of a multitude of studies. The organizational attributes inherited by spinoffs from parent firms is one explanation behind performance premiums. This paper examines the relationship between a spinoff’s network and its geographic location in an industrial cluster. We hypothesize that there is a negative relationship between a spinoff’s network efficiency and its distance from the cluster’s centroid. Although recent literature infers that the transmission of knowledge in industrial clusters is accomplished via inherited network ties, this has not been directly measured. This paper aims to fill that research gap. We find that, after controlling for firm size, parent size and age, there is indeed a statistically significant and negative relationship between network efficiency and geographic distance to a cluster’s core.     

The effects of internal technological diversity and external uncertainty on technological alliance portfolio diversity

This research proposes internal and external determinants that influence the diversity of a firm’s alliance portfolio. Focusing on technological aspects of the firm as well as investigating internal and external factors, we suggest that the internal technological diversity of the focal firm, as well as the technological uncertainty of the industry, affects the technological diversity of the alliance portfolio. The hypotheses are tested on a sample of U.S.-listed semiconductor firms’ global R&D alliances from 1990 to 2010. We find that the internal technological diversity of a firm has a negative influence on its technological alliance portfolio diversity. However, technological alliance portfolio diversity seems unaffected by the uncertainty of the firm’s environment. This study contributes to prior literature which has extensively studied the effects of alliance portfolio diversity on firm performance but has paid little attention to its determinants.     

Local Embeddedness and Knowledge Management Strategies for Project-Based Multi-National Firms

Abstract:

Multinational, project-based organizations are faced with competing challenges of adapting to a local marketplace and integrating various offices globally. Case studies with 14 multinational real estate development, general contracting, and engineering firms revealed types of knowledge required for international operations, knowledge management strategies, and the level of embeddedness within the local project area. Eighty-nine interviews were recorded, transcribed, and imported into qualitative coding software. Analysis of the data built propositions regarding different levels of local project embeddedness and the relationship between embeddedness and knowledge management strategies. The findings indicate that firms with a low level of local embeddedness have more formal knowledge management platforms to share local knowledge, whereas firms with a high level of embeddedness, which require the most local knowledge, lack formal knowledge management strategies to share their knowledge across projects.     

Enterprise-University Co-operation and the Role of Public Research Institutions in Regional Innovation Systems

The paper analyses the co-operative relationships that public research institutions in Germany have developed with manufacturing firms and with each other. We find that collaboration with firms is highly concentrated on regional partners. Research institutions contribute significantly to innovation processes in the respective regions by absorbing knowledge from beyond the region and making it available to local companies. In respect of co-operation between public research institutions themselves, we find that spatial proximity still matters, but to a lesser degree.     

Economic crisis and company R&D in Spain: do regional and policy factors matter?

The economic crisis which began in 2008 has had a far-reaching impact, including effects on the innovation behaviour of firms. Many companies have reduced their innovation-related activities, although some firms have been more resilient than others. Using a representative microdata panel of Spanish firms, we study the probability of companies abandoning in-house R&D during the crisis and its relationship to regional and policy factors. We find significant regional heterogeneity related to regional economic size and the type of the regional innovation system; regional government R&D support only reduces R&D abandonment rates in regions where a strong system of knowledge exploitation is in place.     

The predictive value of behavioural characteristics on the success of strategic alliances

An increasing number of companies are setting up strategic alliances with suppliers and customers. However, the majority of these alliances do not succeed. Our aim is to understand how different behavioural characteristics are associated with alliance success. We hypothesise that alliance attributes, communication behaviour, and alliance management are predictors of cost benefits and service benefits. Furthermore, we found that while alliance attributes are related with both cost and service benefits, communication behaviour and alliance management are only associated with service and cost benefits, respectively. We also see that alliance attributes explain most of the variance of supply chain success and are thus better predictors of alliance success than other behavioural characteristics. Furthermore, we provide insight into the way managers can build up supply chain performance by setting up strategic alliances.     

What drives the geography of jobs in the US? Unpacking relatedness

ABSTRACT

There is ample evidence of regions diversifying in new occupations that are related to pre-existing activities in the region. However, it is still poorly understood through which mechanisms related diversification operates. To unpack relatedness, we distinguish between three mechanisms: complementarity (interdependent tasks), similarity (sharing similar skills) and local synergy (based on pure co-location). We propose a measure for each of these relatedness dimensions and assess their impact on the evolution of the occupational structure of 389 US Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) for the period 2005–2016. Our findings show that new jobs appearing in MSA’s are related to existing ones, while those more likely to disappear are more unrelated to a city’s jobs’ portfolio. We found that all three relatedness dimensions matter, but local synergy shows the largest impact on entry and exit of jobs in US cities, thus being the strongest force of diversification.     

Strategic alliance formation and the effects on the performance of manufacturing enterprises from supply chain perspective

This study examines the antecedents of strategic alliance formation in manufacturing firms in China, the alliance effect on innovation capability and dyadic quality performance, and how these two organisational capabilities are related to the supply chain performance of Chinese manufacturing enterprises in Shanghai. We perform a series of statistical techniques including logistic regression analysis, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and multiple regression analysis for assessing the hypothesised relationships. Our findings indicate that relational stability and effective communication are significant antecedent factors influencing strategic alliance formation among Chinese manufacturing enterprises. Such alliance formation is found to benefit innovation capability and dyadic quality performance, which are significant contributors to the supply chain performance of Chinese manufacturers. We provide important theoretical and practical implications on these antecedents and consequences of strategic alliance formation leading to supply chain performance in the Chinese manufacturing context.     

Ground state structures and properties of small hydrogenated silicon clusters

We present results for ground state structures and properties of small hydrogenated silicon clusters using the Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics with simulated annealing. We discuss the nature of bonding of hydrogen in these clusters. We find that hydrogen can form a bridge like Si-H-Si bond connecting two silicon atoms. We find that in the case of a compact and closed silicon cluster hydrogen bonds to the silicon cluster from outside. To understand the structural evolutions and properties of silicon cluster due to hydrogenation, we have studied the cohesive energy and first excited electronic level gap of clusters as a function of hydrogenation. We find that first excited electronic level gap of Sin and SinH fluctuates as function of size and this may provide a first principle basis for the short-range potential fluctuations in hydrogenated amorphous silicon. The stability of hydrogenated silicon clusters is also discussed.     

External Knowledge and Innovation Performance in Clusters: Empirical Evidence from the Uruguay Software Cluster

The importance of geographic proximity for innovation has been widely stressed in the cluster literature. Yet, new insights from the inter-organisational network and cluster literatures underline the role of non-local linkages in enabling firms in networks to enhance learning and to innovate. This paper contributes to this literature by examining the importance of local and non-local knowledge networks for the innovation performance of firms in clusters. Our analysis is based on primary data from a survey of 95 software firms clustered in Montevideo, Uruguay. The results highlight that the most innovative firms in clusters heavily rely on non-local knowledge networks. Moreover, the number of indirect local ties to other firms is a better predictor of innovative performance than the number of direct local ties. Finally, our findings confirm the presence of knowledge gatekeepers in clusters and emphasise their role in enhancing innovation in clusters by absorbing knowledge from extra-cluster sources and diffusing it to other local firms.