“I want to shake your hand before …”: The role of clients, knowledge exchange and market dynamics in southern Italian software firms

Abstract

This study aims to assess the importance of clients in multi-scalar networks leading to learning competence and knowledge exchange. Furthermore, the difficulties encountered by firms located in a peripheral and marginally innovative area in signing commercial agreements with partners located in distant regions are tackled. Our findings, based on qualitative interviews, reveal that clients are considered to be the most important partners by the founders, owners and professionals of software firms located in the marginally innovative province of Lecce (southeastern Italy). Furthermore, being located in a peripheral area is not seen as a limitation from the technical–infrastructural viewpoint thanks to the opportunity offered by new technologies (e.g. the Internet) and computer-mediated communications. Conversely, the contracting of business agreements with partners located in distant markets is negatively influenced by the geographical distance from potential clients due to the need for previous acquaintance or face-to-face contact engendering trust.

Keywords:

• knowledge flows
• proximity
• peripheral areas
• ICT sector, software firms
• software firms
• southern Italy
• qualitative interviews

Public Interest Statement

There is a widespread consensus that clients are relevant sources of knowledge leading to innovation for firms operating in given sectors. Software firms located in peripheral regions cannot benefit from a critical mass of potential local clients. At the same time, they face difficulties in reaching distant clients and stipulating contracts with them. This paper aims to determine how important clients actually are for software firms located in a peripheral and marginally innovative area, such as the province of Lecce (southern Italy), and where these clients are primarily located. Our findings reveal that the peripheral location of firms is not a limitation from the technical-infrastructural viewpoint by virtue of the opportunity offered by new technologies. Conversely, business agreements with more distant partners are negatively influenced by the spatial distance from potential clients. This is mainly due to the lack of direct face-to-face contacts engendering trust between the two parties.

Notes

1. The International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) is a United Nations system used to classify economic data.

2. The province of Lecce corresponds to NUTS3 according to the “Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics” (NUTS) (Eurostat classification).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Giuseppe Calignano

Giuseppe Calignano received his PhD degree in Geography from the University of Salento, in Italy. He is currently a postdoctoral research fellow in Regional Innovation Studies at the UiS Business School (University of Stavanger, Norway). His major research interests include economic geography, regional development, innovation networks and university-industry linkages.

Luca De Siena

Luca De Siena received his PhD degree in Geography from the University of Salento, in Italy. His major research interests include economic geography, creative and cultural industries, urban studies and tourism studies.