This monthly selection of articles has been carried out by Philippe Gugler and Michael Keller, the Center for Competitiveness, University of Fribourg.

Who with whom: Co-operation activities in a cluster region

By : Lutz Eigenhüller, Nicole Litzel and Stefan Fuchs. Papers in Regional Science, Early View (Online Version of Record published before inclusion in an issue).

Abstract: «This study examines the effect of establishment and cluster characteristics on different co-operation partners in one particular region. Based on a survey in the Nuremberg region in Germany, we estimate a multivariate probit model and confirm other studies, in particular regarding co-operation with R&D institutions. Establishments in the service sector are especially likely to co-operate with local initiatives and networks, a type of co-operation that functional cluster affiliation has no effect on. Co-operation with local authorities is of interest only if establishments are affiliated with a cluster that is of importance to regional policy. Establishments that consider themselves cluster members are particularly likely to co-operate.» [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]

Clusters for life or life cycles of clusters: in search of the critical factors of clusters' resilience

By : Raphael Suire and Jerome Vicente. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Volume 26, Issue 1-2, Pages 142-164, 2014.

Abstract: « This article investigates the driving forces behind the life cycles and resilience of technological clusters. It concentrates, in particular, on the combination of critical parameters which allows clusters to succeed in disconnecting their cycle from the cycle of the technologies they produce, in order to maintain stability and growth in unstable economic environments. Three propositions on location decision externalities, the life cycle of composite technologies and the structural properties of knowledge networks are developed and introduced in an inclusive study of cluster trajectories. Discussions show that resilient clusters are those that combine network and external audience effects in location decision-making and evolve towards a specific core/periphery and disassortative structure of knowledge interactions along the knowledge and market phases. Understanding these pathways could be at the heart of the renewal of cluster and regional policy in a macro-economic context characterized by high instability and new growing consumer paradigms.» [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]

Mapping local productivity advantages in Italy: industrial districts, cities or both?

By : Valter Di Giacinto, Matteo Gomellini, Giacinto Micucci and Marcello Pagnini. Journal of Economic Geography, Volume 14, Issue 2, Pages 365-394, 2014.

Abstract : «Using data from a large sample of Italian manufacturing firms we provide novel empirical evidence on the magnitude of local productivity advantages in two types of spatially concentrated regions: urban areas (UAs) and industrial districts (IDs). A larger surplus is estimated for cities compared to industrial clusters, only partially related to the more skilled workforce employed in UAs. Over the last decade, the productivity premium of UAs has remained essentially unchanged, while that of IDs has showed a tendency to decline, suggesting that the former were better able to cope with the major shocks that hit the world economy.» [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]

Modelling innovation support systems for regional development – analysis of cluster structures in innovation in Portugal

By : Eric Vaz, Teresa de Noronha Vaz, Purificacion Vicente Galindo and Peter Nijkamp. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Volume 26, Issue 1-2, Pages 23-46, 2014.

Abstract: « The present article offers a concise theoretical conceptualization and operational analysis of the contribution of innovation to regional development. The latter concepts are closely related to geographical proximity, knowledge diffusion and filters and clustering. Institutional innovation profiles and regional patterns of innovation are two mutually linked, novel conceptual elements in this article. Next to a theoretical framing, the article employs the regional innovation systems concept as a vehicle to analyse institutional innovation profiles. Our case study addresses three Portuguese regions and their institutions, included in a web-based inventory of innovation agencies which offered the foundation for an extensive database. This data-set was analysed by means of a recently developed principal coordinates analysis followed by a Logistic Biplot approach (leading to a Voronoi mapping) to design a systemic typology of innovation structures where each institution is individually represented. There appears to be a significant difference in the regional innovation patterns resulting from the diverse institutional innovation profiles concerned. These profiles appear to be region specific. Our conclusion highlights the main advantages in the use of the method used for policy-makers and business companies.» [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]

Co-agglomeration of knowledge-intensive business services and multinational enterprises

By : Wouter Jacobs, Hans R. A. Koster and Frank van Oort. Journal of Economic Geography, Volume 14, Issue 2, Pages 443-475, 2014.

Abstract : «It has been argued that the relationship between knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) and multinational enterprises (MNEs) within the regional economy is advantageous for urban and regional dynamics. It is likely that KIBS aim to locate proximate to (internationally operating) MNEs because of agglomeration externalities. The impact of MNEs on the birth of KIBS has rarely been examined, and the research on the new formation of KIBS has mainly adopted a case study approach, thus limiting the opportunity for generalization. We have taken a more quantitative approach using a continuous space framework to test whether proximity is important for the co-location of KIBS and MNEs in the metropolitan area of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Our results, controlled for other location factors, indicate that KIBS are co-agglomerated with MNEs and that the presence of a MNE significantly influences the birth of KIBS nearby, but the effect on such start-ups is considerably smaller than the positive effect of the presence of already established KIBS. We discuss the implications for urban and regional development strategies and policy initiatives.» [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]

Spatial Agglomeration, Production Technology and the Choice to Make and/or Buy: Empirical Evidence from the Emilia Romagna Machine Tool Industry

By : Roberto Antonietti, Maria Rosaria Ferrante and Riccardo Leoncini. Regional Studies, Volume 48, Issue 2, Pages 284-300, 2014.

Abstract: « This article asks about differences and similarities in the way cultural policy and business policy deal with regions in Norwegian city regions. The article discusses New Regionalism as a particular spatial practice, and stresses the difference between regionalism as a bottom-up process driven by local stakeholders and regionalization as a top-down process driven by state bodies. The role and significance of New Regionalism in city-regional policy-making is investigated. Empirical findings shows that cultural policy at the city-regional level is still under strong influence from a top-down state regionalization, while business policy at the city-regional level is, to a large extent, an example of bottom-up regionalism. The spatial logic of these two policy-fields differs from each other. Business policy rests on an interpretation of region/place as a container of established networks, relations and interactions that should be coordinated in order to strengthen the region in its competition with other regions. Cultural policy rests on another interpretation that is not territorial in the same degree, but rather on a logic that place/region is created as relations between persons, groups and institutions within a geographical scope that is not predefined and fixed with borders and boundaries.» [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]

Metropolitan Edison and cosmopolitan Pasteur? Agglomeration and interregional research network effects on European R&D productivity

By : Attila Varga, Dimitrios Pontikakis and George Chorafakis. Journal of Economic Geography, Volume 14, Issue 2, Pages 229-263, 2014.

Abstract : «This article examines empirically the relative influence of static and dynamic agglomeration effects on the one hand and research networking [measured by Framework Programme (FP) participation] on the other on regional R&D productivity in the European Union. We found that agglomeration is an important predictor of R&D productivity in the case of market-oriented (Edison-type) research while interregional scientific networking is an important determinant of R&D productivity in the case of science-driven (Pasteur-type) research. Importantly, the two determinants are never jointly significant. This finding indicates that in a knowledge production context, and contrary to what may happen in other areas of economic activity, agglomeration and scientific networking are neither substitutes nor complements but operate at distinct parts of the knowledge production process. Our findings uncover the principal components of regional knowledge production processes across European regions in a dynamic setting. They therefore allow us to explore counterfactual scenarios and characterize the effects of policy interventions. A simulation of the likely impacts of FP6 funds on regional R&D productivity demonstrates that the dynamic effect is greater in regions with high agglomeration.» [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]

The Impact of Innovation Off-shoring on Organizational Adaptability

By : Elisabeth Baier, Christian Rammer and Torben Schubert. Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung, Discussion Paper No. 13-109, 2014.

Abstract: « We analyze the effects of captive off-shoring of innovation activities on the firms’ ability to adapt their organizational processes and structures. Starting from complexity theory, we use three consecutive waves of the German part of the Community Innovation Survey to test our hypotheses. We find an inverted u-shape of innovation off-shoring on the effectiveness of organizational adaptability, implying an optimal threshold value of innovation off-shoring. This value is 11% for share of off-shored R&D, 15% for downstream innovation activities such as local market adaptation, and 34% for design activities. We also analyze several contingency variables. In particular we show that the costs of innovation off-shoring in terms of reduced organizational adaptability are exacerbated by a strong focus on R&D and a strong embeddedness in on-shore networks. Smaller firms find it easier to deal with the management complexity induced by geographical dispersion of innovation activities because of their greater flexibility.» [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]

Agglomeration, Clusters And Entrepreneurship

Edited by : Charlie Karlsson , Börje Johansson and Roger R. Stough. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, Cheltenham, UK, 2014.

Abstract: « Regional economic development has experienced considerable dynamism over recent years. Perhaps the most notable cases were the rise of China and India to emergent country status by the turn of the millennium. With time now for hindsight, this book identifies some of the key forces behind these development successes, namely agglomeration, clusters and entrepreneurship.

The expert contributors explore these three forces, which form the basis of much scholarly work in new economic geography and endogenous growth theory and policy. Here, academics from across Europe, North America, Asia and Australia consider the role of agglomeration, clusters and entrepreneurship in regional economic development within a global market context.

The book presents solid conceptual and methodological contributions to the growing body of knowledge that extends these theoretical concepts, and prescribes policy and practical applications. Relevant case studies underpin the detailed empirical analyses.

Academics, students, researchers and policymakers in the fields of entrepreneurship, regional development and regional science will find this book to be an enlightening read.» [ABSTRACT FROM EDITORS]

Regional Development And Proximity Relations

Edited by : André Torre and Frédéric Wallet. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, Cheltenham, UK, 2014.

Abstract: « The notion of proximity is increasing in popularity in economic and geographic literature, and is now commonly used by scholars in regional science and spatial economics. Few academic works, however, have explored the link between regional development and proximity relations. This comprehensive book redresses the balance with its assessment of the role of, and obstacles caused by, proximity relations in regional development processes.

The expert contributors illustrate that the value of integrating proximity into the regional development analysis framework is due its plasticity and ability to draw connections between spatial, economic and social dimensions. Possible changes for regional and territorial policies are also an outcome of this integration. These areas are addressed via four main paradigms:

• Proximity and regional development

• Spatial innovation processes

• Networks and proximity relations

• Place-based strategies and proximity relations.

Students, academics, researchers and regional development practitioners with an interest in regional proximity will find this highly original book to be an illuminating read..

Academics, students, researchers and policymakers in the fields of entrepreneurship, regional development and regional science will find this book to be an enlightening read.» [ABSTRACT FROM EDITORS]