The influence of small town context on access to external knowledge

ABSTRACT

The relative lack of variety and density of people, companies and knowledge institutions in small towns compel companies to seek new knowledge beyond their location. However, there is only scant research explaining the local characteristics that influence companies’ ability to access external knowledge. In this article, the focus lies on the obstacles and opportunities that arise due to companies’ location in small towns and that emerge when they seek to access external knowledge sources. A multiple case study design with qualitative interview data from five multinational high-tech companies in small towns in the eastern part of Switzerland is used. Also, a theoretical replication of the case study by investigating two single domestic high-tech companies was conducted. The results show that a thin labour market, a lack of urban amenities and the availability of transportation connections to bigger cities are most important for accessing the knowledge of new employees, collaborating with universities and for attending workshops or conferences. On the whole, multinational companies in small towns face the same obstacles and opportunities as single domestic companies in small towns.

KEYWORDS:

• Innovation
• small towns
• knowledge sources
• non-core region
• multinational companies
• periphery
• regional development
• Switzerland

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. To be defined as a town in Switzerland a settlement must have a density of inhabitants, jobs or equivalent for overnight stays, whose sum is higher than 500 per km2 in a grid cell with an edge length of 300 meters (see Goebel and Kohler (2014) for more information on the definition).

2. High-technology includes the manufacturing of basic pharmaceutical products and preparations and the manufacturing of computer, electronic and optional products. High-medium technology includes the manufacturing of chemicals and chemical products, the manufacturing of electrical equipment, the manufacturing of machinery and equipment, the manufacturing of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers, and the manufacturing of other transport equipment.

3. Meaning: individualistic.

4. In order to secure the anonymity of the firms in this study, the firms cannot be characterised in more detail.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung [159324].