The Economies and Diseconomies of Industrial Clustering:Multinational Enterprises versus Uninational Enterprises

This study’s objective is to compare cluster economies and diseconomies for multinational enterprises (MNEs) and uninational enterprises (UNEs) within the London financial services cluster. In contrast to the implicit assumption of the cluster participation literature that the economies and diseconomies of clusters are valued similarly by all firms, we find that economies relating to social capital and labour market pooling are equally important to MNEs and UNEs, economies relating to local competition and diseconomies relating to congestion costs are more important to MNEs than to UNEs, and economies relating to the reputational effects of locating in a world-leading cluster and access to specialised suppliers are more important to UNEs than to MNEs. That MNEs and UNEs do not experience cluster economies and diseconomies in the same way indicates that both cluster participation theory and international business theory need augmentation to recognise that cluster incumbents benefit and suffer from cluster membership differently

Knowledge in the air and cooperation among firms: traditions of secrecy and the reluctant emergence of specialization in the ceramic manufacturing district of Lampang, Thailand

We study interfirm relations among ceramic tableware manufacturers in the city of Lampang, Thailand. Data consist of face-to-face interviews with the principals of thirty-four manufacturers, and with representatives of supporting institutions. We find that specialization in production and knowledge sharing are complementary; that knowledge sharing is substantially discretionary, rather than taking the form of passive spillovers; and that a weak knowledge base, built on firm-based training within vertically integrated mass producers, constrains the development of flexible specialization, despite the efforts of numerous local and external actors

The impact of patents and standards on macroeconomic growth: a panel approach covering four countries and 12 sectors

Growth, Innovation, Standards, Patents, Country effects, Industry effects, O41, O52, O11, E13,