Knowledge networks in the Dutch aviation industry: the proximity paradox

The importance of geographical proximity for interaction and knowledge sharing has been discussed extensively in economic geography in recent years. There is increasing consensus that it is just one out of many types of proximities that might be relevant. We argue that proximity may be a crucial driver for agents to connect and exchange knowledge, but too much proximity between these agents on any of the dimensions might harm their innovative performance at the same time. In a study on knowledge networks in the Dutch aviation industry, we test this so-called proximity paradox empirically. We find evidence that the proximity paradox holds to some degree. Our study clearly shows that cognitive, social and geographical proximity are crucial for explaining the knowledge network of the Dutch aviation industry. But while it takes cognitive, social and geographical proximity to exchange knowledge, we found evidence that proximity lowers firms's innovative performance, but only in the cognitive dimension.proximity, paradox, social network analysis, knowledge networks, aviation

Growth and social capital: an evolutionary model

In this paper, we analyze the role of cooperation between firms through a model of growth and social capital. In a growth model à la Solow we incorporate the set of resources that a relational network has at its disposals, as a distinct production factor, and thus examine its dissemination through evolutionary type processes in firm interactions. Dynamic analysis of the model demonstrates that cooperation is able to increase the productivity of factors, fostering a higher rate of growth in the long term. The most significant result is that scarcity of social capital can produce a general collapse of the economic system in areas in which long term growth is usually sustained by the learning by doing and spillover of knowledge phenomena. This conclusion leads to reconsider the role of local development economic policies that should concentrate on activities that promote repeated interaction between firms proven to be cooperative or that encourage the formation of technological consortia.Economic growth; Social capital; Networks; Evolutionary games

Integrating IT-Enabled Social Networks with Transaction Cost Economics and the Resource Based View of the Firm

Prior research has mostly focused on transaction cost economics (TCE) to interpret the effect of information systems (IS) on organizational governance structures. A TCE based approach predicts that information technology (IT) will lead to increased use of electronic markets to coordinate economic transactions from electronic hierarchies. However, there is contradictory evidence in the literature regarding the rise and importance of cooperative relationships, joint ventures, and value-added partnerships integrated through information systems. To reconcile these contradictions, this paper analyzes the effect of IT on governance structures based on the TCE, social network theory, and the resource based view (RBV) of the firm. The most important aspect of this paper is that instead of overemphasizing the economic perspective, as has been done in prior IS research, it pays equal attention to economic, social, and knowledge perspectives of the firm. By considering variables such as product demand uncertainty, human specificity, task complexity, and frequency of interaction, the effect of IT on governance structure has been analyzed. In this paper, we suggest that, in knowledge intensive companies, a greater degree of outsourcing will take place, not through markets as hypothesized by earlier researchers, but through an increasing number of social networks. This differentiation can not be understood in simple economic terms because social networks are not based on contracts. Therefore, we suggest that the integration of IT-enabled social networks with the TCE and RBV of the firm leads to a better understanding and improvement of decision-making and corporate governance structures in knowledge intensive firms

Bridging the Climate Information Gap: A Framework for Engaging Knowledge Brokers and Decision Makers in State Climate Assessments

Large-scale analyses like the National Climate Assessment (NCA) contain a wealth of information critical to national and regional responses to climate change but tend to be insufficiently detailed for action at state or local levels. Many states now engage in assessment processes to meet information needs for local authorities. The goals of state climate assessments (SCAs) should be to provide relevant, actionable information to state and local authorities, and to generate primary sources, build networks and inform stakeholders. To communicate local climate impacts to decision makers, SCAs should express credibility, salience and legitimacy. They can provide information (e.g., case studies, data sets) and connect stakeholders to the NCA and its process. Based on our experience in the Vermont Climate Assessment (VCA), we present a framework to engage decision makers in SCAs using a fluid network of scientific experts and knowledge brokers to conduct subject area prioritization, data analysis and writing. The VCA addressed economic, environmental and social impacts of climate change at local scales to increase resiliency and manage risk. Knowledge brokers communicated VCA findings through their own stakeholder networks. We include a qualitative impact evaluation, and believe our framework for interaction among scientists, knowledge brokers and stakeholders to be an effective structure for SCAs and a transformative experience for students

Local Nodes in Global Networks: The Geography of Knowledge Flows in Biotechnology Innovation

The literature on innovation and interactive learning has tended to emphasize the importance of local networks, inter-firm collaboration and knowledge flows as the principal source of technological dynamism. More recently, however, this view has come to be challenged by other perspectives that argue for the importance of non-local knowledge flows. According to this alternative approach, truly dynamic economic regions are characterized both by dense local social interaction and knowledge circulation, as well as strong inter-regional and international connections to outside knowledge sources and partners. This paper offers an empirical examination of these issues by examining the geography of knowledge flows associated with innovation in biotechnology. We begin by reviewing the growing literature on the nature and geography of innovation in biotechnology research and the commercialization process. Then, focusing on the Canadian biotech industry, we examine the determinants of innovation (measured through patenting activity), paying particular attention to internal resources and capabilities of the firm, as well as local and global flows of knowledge and capital. Our study is based on the analysis of Statistics Canada’s 1999 Survey of Biotechnology Use and Development, which covers 358 core biotechnology firms. Our findings highlight the importance of in-house technological capability and absorptive capacity as determinants of successful innovation in biotechnology firms. Furthermore, our results document the precise ways in which knowledge circulates, in both embodied and disembodied forms, both locally and globally. We also highlight the role of formal intellectual property transactions (domestic and international) in promoting knowledge flows. Although we document the importance of global networks in our findings, our results also reveal the value of local networks and specific forms of embedding. Local relational linkages are especially important when raising capital—and the expertise that comes with it—to support innovation. Nevertheless, our empirical results raise some troubling questions about the alleged pre-eminence of the local in fostering innovation

The spatial economy of North American trade fairs

The version of record [Bathelt, H., & Spigel, B. (2012). The spatial economy of North American trade fairs. The Canadian Geographer/Le Geographe Canadien, 56(1), 18-38.] is available online at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1541-0064.2011.00396.x/fullThrough a study of trade fairs, this article illustrates that relational approaches to economic geography are not limited to the sphere of economic and social relationships. These relationships are influenced by and, in turn, shape material realities, such as specific infrastructure and the labour market, in a reflexive manner. Trade fairs are “relational events” that bring together regional, national, and often international producers, users, suppliers, and other agents of a value chain or technology field for the purpose of exchanging knowledge about technological and market developments, building partnerships, and maintaining existing networks through learning by interaction and observation. However, these events are also situated in space and time, grounded in the contexts of particular industries, trade patterns, public and private investments, as well as the economic geographies of places. Focusing on North America, this article presents and analyzes data on the economic geography of trade fairs and their regional economic impact (number of events, exhibitors, attendees, exhibition space). It explores regional trade fair patterns and dynamic changes in major trade fair cities by emphasizing the role of history and industry context

Taming out-of-equilibrium dynamics on interconnected networks

A wide variety of social, biological or technological systems can be described as processes taking place on networked structures in continuous interaction with other networks. We propose here a new methodology to describe, anticipate and manage, in real time, the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of processes that evolve on interconnected networks. This goal is achieved through the full analytical treatment of the phenomenology and its reduction to a two-dimensional flux diagram, allowing us to predict at every time step the dynamical consequences of modifying the links between the different ensembles. Our results are consistent with real data and the methodology can be translated to clustered networks and/or interconnected networks of any size, topology or origin, from the struggle for knowledge on innovation structures to international economic relations or disease spreading on social groups.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad; Comunidad de Madri

Contingency Factors of Virtual Organizations’ Emergence

Business organizations are permanently influenced by contingency factors which generate profound changes in their emergence, structures and forms. Globalization, technological progress, and changes in society are foundations of networked organization emergence. In the actual economic, social and technological contexts, progress assumes interdependence of many contingency factors that are in mutual interaction. The organizations integration in virtual organizations generates positive effects through which organizations become competitive and cope with the dynamics and turbulence of the business environment. Progress in areas such as networks of communications, telecommunications, information technology and social changes are preconditions for the emergence of the knowledge-based society and of the interconnected society in which new structures emerge that allow business activities and processes to unfold in a collaborative manner. The integration of organizations, especially of small and medium-sized enterprises, into networks of organizations, has become an important goal in the current economic environment, as the organizations are striving to become more competitive, to build skills and have access to know-how. To cope with changes and complexity of business sectors, the organizations seek to become more competitive by developing new business models, strategies and governance principles, processes, internal structures based on new organizational capabilities and resources. The identification and analysis of contingency factors of the emergence of virtual organizations are issues that can highlight the distinctive features of virtual organizations compared to other organizational forms, but also the differences between them and other network-type structures.virtual organizations, networked organizations, organizational structures, collaborative structures

Essays in the spatial economic analysis of social interactions

This thesis examines the role of social interactions in economic geography from several different angles. It draws on and dialogues with literatures in related fields such as spatial and urban economics, regional science, economic sociology, and innovation economics, to explore how the geographical and social spaces are interlinked. The thesis comprises an introduction and three essays, all focused on the United States. The first essay considers the notion of social capital from a territorial perspective and investigates the role of manufacturing decline in its accumulation. It documents a positive relationship between the two, but also highlights significant challenges in the stability and interpretation of this result. The essay thus questions how well the notion of social capital lends itself to measurement and empirical analysis. The second essay uses a direct and broad measure of the social connectedness of regions to examine its role in transferring knowledge across the entire US geography. It uncovers a small yet significant and robust effect of social connection on knowledge flows as proxied by patent citations. The effect matters above and beyond the pre-existing geography of production and the professional networks of inventors. The third and final essay uses US social connectedness data to investigate how plausibly exogenous surges in the local demand for jobs in the oil and gas industry during the ‘fracking boom’ can affect the economy of spatially distant but socially proximate places. Findings support a role for social interaction in the diffusion of local economic shocks. This effect is likely explained by the relocation of transient workers within the industry, providing new aggregate evidence in support of the literature on job information networks. The overriding contribution of this thesis is to underscore with new empirical evidence the importance of social interactions in the spatial distribution of economic activity, not just locally but also over large scale geographies

Improving of irrigation management: a learning based approach

Farmers draw upon a wide range of sources for learning, and change to irrigation management are influenced by the quality of information networks between stakeholders (researcher, extensionist and farmers as part of the agricultural knowledge triangle), and their means of accessing outside information are important adoption factors. As in the case of most occupational groupings, farmers belong to various information networks and have a wide range of abilities and knowledge. However not all farmers learn in the same manner. These factors suggest that to encourage better understanding and implementation of irrigation scheduling practices it is important to focus on how irrigation farmers might learn about these practices. This paper presents the findings of a study that was conducted to identify social, cultural, economic and technological factors, which influence the adoption of irrigation scheduling practices on the farm. The study showed that irrigation farmers use different learning sources and that informal interaction and social networks play an important role in farmer learning. Keywords: irrigation, management, extensionist, adoption South African Journal of Agricultural Extension Vol. 34(2) 2005: 151-16