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GEOGRAPHIC CLUSTERS AND FIRM INNOVATION

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Date Issued:
2011
Abstract/Description:
Scholars dating back to the early 1900s have been interested in the idea that organizations benefit from locating in close proximity to other similar organizations (Marshall, 1920). Largely, this research suggests that economies of agglomeration accrue to clustered organizations which create performance advantages when compared to more isolated organizations. Recently, agglomeration theory researchers have focused on high technology clusters where the primary benefit of collocation is argued to be access to knowledge spillovers from local organizations. This dissertation argues that in order to access local knowledge, firms must be active participants in the local research community. Furthermore, in clusters where inventive activity, measured using patent data, is highly concentrated in one or a few organizations, firms derive less benefit from their participation in local research. Clustering does not come without a price, however. Membership in local research networks, which initially provides an advantage for clustered organizations, ultimately drives a convergence of inventions in the cluster. That is, networks of organizations in clusters channel institutional pressures which ensure that firms' inventions come to resemble the inventions of other organizations in the cluster, over time.
Title: GEOGRAPHIC CLUSTERS AND FIRM INNOVATION.
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Name(s): Vestal, Donald, Author
Danneels, Erwin, Committee Chair
University of Central Florida, Degree Grantor
Type of Resource: text
Date Issued: 2011
Publisher: University of Central Florida
Language(s): English
Abstract/Description: Scholars dating back to the early 1900s have been interested in the idea that organizations benefit from locating in close proximity to other similar organizations (Marshall, 1920). Largely, this research suggests that economies of agglomeration accrue to clustered organizations which create performance advantages when compared to more isolated organizations. Recently, agglomeration theory researchers have focused on high technology clusters where the primary benefit of collocation is argued to be access to knowledge spillovers from local organizations. This dissertation argues that in order to access local knowledge, firms must be active participants in the local research community. Furthermore, in clusters where inventive activity, measured using patent data, is highly concentrated in one or a few organizations, firms derive less benefit from their participation in local research. Clustering does not come without a price, however. Membership in local research networks, which initially provides an advantage for clustered organizations, ultimately drives a convergence of inventions in the cluster. That is, networks of organizations in clusters channel institutional pressures which ensure that firms' inventions come to resemble the inventions of other organizations in the cluster, over time.
Identifier: CFE0003901 (IID), ucf:48756 (fedora)
Note(s): 2011-08-01
Ph.D.
Business Administration, Department of Management
Doctorate
This record was generated from author submitted information.
Subject(s): Agglomeration
Innovation
Knowledge transfer
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003901
Restrictions on Access: campus 2014-07-01
Host Institution: UCF

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