Interfirm Knowledge Exchanges and the Knowledge Creation Capability of Clusters

I build on the literature that views clusters as venues of enhanced knowledge creation and introduce the concept of a cluster's knowledge creation capability. I then develop a model that outlines the antecedents of this concept. The model concentrates on factors that create opportunities for, enable, and increase the effectiveness of interfirm knowledge exchanges among cluster firms. These three sets of factors point to three types of knowledge creation failures within clusters.

[1]  Nunzia Carbonara,et al.  New models of inter-firm networks within industrial districts , 2002 .

[2]  D. Teece.  Capturing Value from Knowledge Assets: The New Economy, Markets for Know-How, and Intangible Assets , 1998 .

[3]  R. Gulati.  Social Structure and Alliance Formation Patterns: A Longitudinal Analysis , 1995 .

[4]  Mari Sako,et al.  Supplier Relations in Japan and the United States , 1995 .

[5]  Mia Gray,et al.  Big Firms, Long Arms, Wide Shoulders: The 'Hub-and-Spoke' Industrial District in the Seattle Region , 1996 .

[6]  Arvind Parkhe,et al.  Orchestrating Innovation Networks , 2006 .

[7]  Augustine A. Lado,et al.  COMPETITION, COOPERATION, AND THE SEARCH FOR ECONOMIC RENTS: A SYNCRETIC MODEL , 1997 .

[8]  M. Fischer,et al.  Knowledge interactions between universities and industry in Austria: sectoral patterns and determinants , 2002 .

[9]  J. Liebeskind,et al.  Knowledge, Strategy, and the Theory of the Firm , 1996 .

[10]  Peter Maskell,et al.  Towards a Knowledge‐based Theory of the Geographical Cluster , 2001 .

[11]  Luiz Mesquita,et al.  Starting Over when the Bickering Never Ends: Rebuilding Aggregate Trust Among Clustered Firms Through Trust Facilitators , 2007 .

[12]  A. Arora,et al.  The changing technology of technological change: general and abstract knowledge and the division of , 1994 .

[13]  Peter Maskell,et al.  The cluster as a nexus of knowledge creation , 2005 .

[14]  Joel A. C. Baum,et al.  Localized Competition and Organizational Failure in the Manhattan Hotel Industry, 1898-1990 , 1992 .

[15]  M. Polanyi.  Chapter 7 – The Tacit Dimension , 1997 .

[16]  Amy K. Glasmeier,et al.  Technological discontinuities and flexible production networks: The case of Switzerland and the world watch industry * , 1991 .

[17]  Toby E. Stuart,et al.  The geography of opportunity: spatial heterogeneity in founding rates and the performance of biotechnology firms , 2003 .

[18]  Caroline Hussler,et al.  Innovation in regions: What does really matter? , 2005 .

[19]  Michael D. Santoro,et al.  The effect of uncertainty and asset co‐specialization on governance in biotechnology alliances , 2005 .

[20]  M. Porter.  Location, Competition, and Economic Development: Local Clusters in a Global Economy , 2000 .

[21]  Fredrick Flyer,et al.  Agglomeration economies, firm heterogeneity, and foreign direct investment in the United States , 2000 .

[22]  Lori Rosenkopf,et al.  Overcoming Local Search Through Alliances and Mobility , 2003, Manag. Sci..

[23]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON LEARNING AND INNOVATION , 1990 .

[24]  M. Porter.  The Competitive Advantage Of Nations , 1990 .

[25]  Varghese P. George,et al.  Reach out or reach within? Performance implications of alliances and location in biotechnology , 2004 .

[26]  Peter Maskell,et al.  Localized Learning and Industrial Competitiveness , 1995 .

[27]  C. Lawson,et al.  Towards a competence theory of the region , 1999 .

[28]  A. Arora,et al.  Markets for Technology and Their Implications for Corporate Strategy , 2000 .

[29]  A. Malmberg,et al.  (How) Do (Firms in) Clusters Create Knowledge? , 2005 .

[30]  J. Barney.  Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage , 1991 .

[31]  A. Venables,et al.  Buzz: face-to-face contact and the urban economy , 2004 .

[32]  Edward Lorenz,et al.  Collective Learning, Tacit Knowledge and Regional Innovative Capacity , 1999 .

[33]  Melissa A. Schilling,et al.  Disentangling the Theories of Firm Boundaries: A Path Model and Empirical Test , 2002, Organ. Sci..

[34]  M. Bell,et al.  The micro-determinants of meso-level learning and innovation: evidence from a Chilean wine cluster , 2005 .

[35]  Carliss Y. Baldwin,et al.  Managing in an age of modularity. , 1997, Harvard business review.

[36]  S. Winter.  Knowledge and Competence as Strategic Assets , 1987 .

[37]  Kulwant Singh,et al.  The Impact of Technological Complexity and Interfirm Cooperation on Business Survival , 1997 .

[38]  Garry L. Adams,et al.  An Interpretive Systems View of Knowledge Investments , 2009 .

[39]  A. Zaheer,et al.  Bridging ties: a source of firm heterogeneity in competitive capabilities , 1999 .

[40]  H. Chesbrough,et al.  The Market for Innovation: Implications for Corporate Strategy , 2007 .

[41]  Melissa A. Schilling.  Toward a General Modular Systems Theory and Its Application to Interfirm Product Modularity , 2000 .

[42]  Harvey Molotch,et al.  The Regional World , 1998 .

[43]  E. Hippel.  Sticky Information and the Locus of Problem Solving: Implications for Innovation , 1994 .

[44]  Anne Plunket,et al.  Inventive and Uninventive Clusters: The Case of Canadian Biotechnology , 2008 .

[45]  Ulrich Lichtenthaler,et al.  External Commercialization of Knowledge: Review and Research Agenda , 2005 .

[46]  Jeffrey J. Reuer,et al.  Interorganizational Routines and Performance in Strategic Alliances , 2002, Organ. Sci..

[47]  H. Bathelt,et al.  Clusters and knowledge: local buzz, global pipelines and the process of knowledge creation , 2004 .

[48]  R. Pouder,et al.  Hot Spots and Blind Spots: Geographical Clusters of Firms and Innovation , 1996 .

[49]  R. Langlois,et al.  Innovation, Networks, and Vertical Integration , 1995 .

[50]  S. Winter,et al.  An evolutionary theory of economic change , 1983 .

[51]  P. Swann,et al.  Do firms in clusters innovate more , 1998 .

[52]  Peter J. Lane,et al.  Relative absorptive capacity and interorganizational learning , 1998 .

[53]  J. H. Dyer,et al.  Creating and managing a high‐performance knowledge‐sharing network: the Toyota case , 2000 .

[54]  W. Powell,et al.  Interorganizational Collaboration and the Locus of Innovation: Networks of Learning in Biotechnology. , 1996 .

[55]  R. Katila,et al.  SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF SEARCH BEHAVIOR AND NEW PRODUCT INTRODUCTION , 2002 .

[56]  Ron Sanchez,et al.  Modularity, flexibility, and knowledge management in product and organization design , 1996 .