18 research outputs found
local buzz, global pipelines and the process of knowledge creation
The version of record [Bathelt, H., Malmberg, A., & Maskell, P. (2004).
Clusters and knowledge: Local buzz, global pipelines and the process of
knowledge creation. Progress in Human Geography, 28(1), 31-56.] is
available online at:
http://phg.sagepub.com/content/28/1/31
[doi: 10.1191/0309132504ph469oa]The paper is concerned with spatial clustering of economic activity and its relation to the spatiality of knowledge creation in interactive learning processes. It questions the view that tacit knowledge transfer is confined to local milieus whereas codified knowledge may roam the globe almost frictionlessly. The paper highlights the conditions under which both tacit and codified knowledge can be exchanged locally and globally. A distinction is made between, on the one hand, the learning processes taking place among actors embedded in a community by just being there dubbed buzz and, on the other, the knowledge attained by investing in building channels of communication called pipelines to selected providers located outside the local milieu. It is argued that the co-existence of high levels of buzz and many pipelines may provide firms located in outward-looking and lively clusters with a string of particular advantages not available to outsiders. Finally, some policy implications, stemming from this argument, are identified
Grading Standards, Student Ability and Errors in College Admission
Grades are important for admission of students in most higher education programmes. Analysing admission and
student performance data at a major Norwegian business school, we find that the grading practice of teachers at
regional colleges sending students to the school is affected by the average performance of the students being
graded. Teachers at colleges recruiting good students from upper secondary school tend to be strict in their
grading practice, while teachers at colleges recruiting less good students tend to follow a lenient practice. This
has implications for the interpretation of grades and hence for optimal admission procedures. We develop a
methodology to assess the consequences of differential grading standards. Approximately ten percent of the
students in our data are admitted at the expense of more competent students. We demonstrate costs for the school
admitting wrong students and in particular for the rejected students