Learning in ‘Organized Anarchies’: The Nature of Technological Search Processes at Trade Fairs

Abstract

Bathelt H. and Gibson R. Learning in ‘organized anarchies’: the nature of technological search processes at trade fairs, Regional Studies. Trade fairs have become an important temporary organizational form for the establishment of inter-firm linkages and networks. Despite recent insights into the nature of knowledge flows, the causal mechanisms linking trade fairs to processes of technological searches and choices remain underspecified. Taking this as a starting point, this paper provides a conceptual and empirical account of the technological search and related learning processes between geographically distant firms at trade fairs. Building on the concept of ‘organized anarchies’ and the ‘garbage-can model’ of organizational choice, it reconceptualizes the nature of search processes and applies this conceptualization to an explorative study of four business-to-business fairs in North America. This provides a dynamic explanation of how inter-firm interaction and observation support technological search processes, which may lead to distinct wider patterns of technological specialization and/or diffusion.

Bathelt H. and Gibson R. 在 “组织化的无政府状态” 中学习：交易市场中的技术探索过程，区域研究。交易市场已然成为建立跨公司连结与网络的重要暂时性组织形态。儘管晚近有关于知识流本质之洞见，将交易市场连结至技术探索与选择过程的因果机制，仍然未被釐清。本文将以此为出发，提供在地理上相距甚远的企业，在交易市场上的技术探索与相关学习过程的概念及经验解释。本文奠基于组织选择的 “组织化无政府状态” 及 “垃圾桶模式” 之概念，再概念化探索过程，并将此一概念化应用至四个北美商展的探索性研究。该研究提供了企业间的互动与观察如何支持技术探索过程的动态解释，并可能导致明显的技术专殊化与(或)扩散之广泛形态。

Bathelt H. et Gibson R. L'apprentissage dans les ‘anarchies organisées’: les caractéristiques des processus de recherche aux foires commerciales, Regional Studies. Les foires commerciales sont devenues une structure organisationnelle temporaire importante pour la création des relations et des réseaux interentreprises. Malgré des observations récentes pour ce qui des caractéristiques des flux de connaissances, les mécanismes en jeu qui relient les foires commerciales aux processus de recherche et de choix technologiques restent sousestimés. Partant de ce constat, cet article fournit un compte-rendu conceptuel et empirique des recherches technologiques et des processus d'apprentissage afférents entre des entreprises aux foires commerciales qui sont autrement situées géographiquement à distance. S'inspirant de la notion d’‘anarchies organisées’ et du ‘modèle de la poubelle’ du choix organisationnel, on repense les caractéristiques des processus de recherche et applique cette conceptualisation à une étude exploratoire de quatre foires business-to-business dans l'Amérique du Nord. On fournit une explication dynamique de la façon dont l'interaction interentreprises et l'observation soutiennent des processus de recherche technologiques qui pourraient amener à des structures de spécialisation technologique et/ou de diffusion plus larges.

Bathelt H. und Gibson R. Lernen in ‘organisierten Anarchien’: Eigenschaften technologischer Suchprozesse auf Messen, Regional Studies. Messeveranstaltungen haben sich zu wichtigen temporären Organisationsformen entwickelt, die zur Entstehung von unternehmensübergreifenden Verflechtungen und Netzwerken beitragen. Trotz jüngerer Studien über die dortigen Wissensflüsse sind kausale Verbindungen zwischen Messen und technologischen Such- und Auswahlprozessen bisher wenig untersucht. Davon ausgehend ist es das Ziel dieser Studie, einen konzeptionellen und empirischen Beitrag zur Erforschung der Eigenschaften technologischer Such- und Lernprozesse auf Messen zwischen räumlich getrennten Unternehmen zu leisten. Aufbauend auf dem Konzept der organisierten Anarchie und dem Mülleimer-Modell organisationalen Entscheidungsverhaltens wird eine Rekonzeptionalisierung von Suchprozessen vorgenommen und anhand einer explorativen Studie von vier Business-to-business-Messen in Nordamerika untersucht. Mittels dieses Ansatzes ist es möglich, eine dynamische Erklärung dafür zu liefern, wie unternehmensübergreifende Interaktions- und Beobachtungsprozesse technologische Suchprozesse unterstützen und wie dies weitreichende technologische Spezialisierungs- und/oder Diffusionsprozesse begünstigt.

Bathelt H. y Gibson R. El aprendizaje en ‘anarquías organizadas’: la naturaleza de los procesos tecnológicos de búsqueda en ferias comerciales, Regional Studies. Las ferias comerciales se han convertido en una forma importante de organización temporal que sirve para establecer vínculos y redes interempresariales. Pese a los recientes estudios sobre la naturaleza de los flujos de conocimiento, se siguen investigando poco los mecanismos causales que relacionan las ferias comerciales con los procesos de búsquedas y opciones tecnológicas. Partiendo de esta premisa, en este artículo presentamos datos conceptuales y empíricos de los procesos tecnológicos de búsqueda y los procesos relacionados de aprendizaje entre empresas geográficamente distantes en ferias comerciales. Basándonos en el concepto de ‘anarquías organizadas’ y el ‘modelo de cubos de basura’ de opciones organizativas, realizamos una reconceptualización de la naturaleza de los procesos de búsqueda y aplicamos esta conceptualización a un estudio exploratorio sobre cuatro ferias comerciales en Norteamérica. Esto proporciona una explicación dinámica de cómo la interacción y la observación interempresariales apoyan a los procesos tecnológicos de búsqueda, lo que puede llevar a diferentes patrones más amplios de la especialización y/o difusión tecnológica.

Keywords:

• Trade fairs
• Organized anarchies
• Garbage-can model
• Inter-firm learning
• Technological search processes
• Knowledge flows

• 交易市场
• 组织化的无政府
• 垃圾桶模型
• 企业间学习
• 技术探索过程
• 知识流

• Foires commerciales
• Anarchies organisationnelles
• Modéle de la poubelle
• Apprentissage interentreprises
• Processus de recherche technologiques
• Flux de connaissances

• Messe
• Organisierte Anarchie
• Mülleimer-Modell
• Unternehmensübergreifendes Lernen
• Technologische Suchprozesse
• Wissensflüsse

• Ferias comerciales
• Anarquías organizadas
• Modelo de los cubos de basura
• Aprendizaje interempresarial
• Procesos tecnológicos de búsqueda
• Flujos de conocimiento

JEL classifications:

• D83
• F59
• O33

Acknowledgements

Different aspects discussed in this paper, to which both authors contributed equally, were presented in 2009 at the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers in Las Vegas, Nevada; at the annual meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association in Ottawa, Ontario; and at the conference on ‘Proximity Economics’ in Poitiers, France. The authors would like to thank the participants at these meetings, particularly Christophe Carrincazeaux and Marie Coris, as well as two anonymous journal reviewers and the Editors, for stimulating feedback which helped to shape the arguments. Thanks are also due to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (File Number 410-2007-2167) for providing financial support for this research.

Notes

1. According to the criteria suggested by Lampel and Meyer (2008), all major trade fairs could be viewed as field-configuring events, although few fairs shape an industrial or a technological field in the same path-breaking way that is implied by their concept and described, for instance in a case study of a semiconductor conference during the 1980s by Möllering (2010). Most trade fairs do not operate in such a form. They shape their field in more decentralized and incremental ways, which is why it was chosen here to study the firm-specific technological search processes. These processes are often not associated with the same degree of technological uncertainty as assumed in the literature on field-configuring events.

2. The type of knowledge of particular interest here concerns the search and evaluation of new product, technology and market developments during trade fairs. Exhibiting firms acquire this type of knowledge through multiple, short, and intensive interactions with existing and potential customers, suppliers and partners, as well as competitors, industry observers, multipliers and accidental encounters.

3. The recent literature in behavioural economics also explores the underlying complexities of individual preference formation and change (for example, Kuran, 1997; George, 2001). Similar to the ‘garbage-can model's’ notion of ‘problematic preferences’, this work recognizes that the internal preferences of agents often conflict with one another and that priorities may be redefined and reordered on an ongoing basis (George, 2001). In this respect, preferences are highly contingent upon the specific context in which the agents are embedded (Camerer and Lowenstein, 2004).

4. The authors are aware that the notions of ‘unclear technologies’ and ‘fluid participation’ may not have the same importance at every trade fair, regardless of size and sector. Small fairs or fairs that are rigidly orchestrated by the organizers (Rinallo and Golfetto, 2006) are, for instance, clearer and provide a more structured overview for attendees. Such fairs would better correspond to the concept of a structured field-configuring event than larger, less strictly arranged fairs (Möllering, 2010).

5. See http://www.lightfair.com (accessed on 21 April 2009).

6. See http://www.npe.org (accessed on 2 July 2009).

7. See http://www.cmts.ca (accessed on 2 October 2010).

8. See http://www.mmts.ca (accessed on 2 October 2010).

9. It is important to note that the research focused exclusively on business-to-business as opposed to business-to-consumer trade fairs. This is due to the particular interest in the technological search processes of producers, rather than consumer choices or consumer behaviour. More specifically, of interest is how the searches at trade fairs ultimately shape local/national production processes and their outcomes.

10. As the research covered multiple themes, several different, partly overlapping, questionnaires were used, only one of which was specifically devoted to search processes.

11. Most of the firms interviewed did not actually intend to buy new products or technologies at the fair. This is in line with Godar and O’Connor's (2001) study, which suggests that trade fair visitors are rarely motivated to buy products during the fair. The work of Borghini et al. (2006) supports this view by demonstrating that such visitors are more interested in acquiring information than actually buying new products.

12. In support of this contention, some studies draw interesting parallels between the ‘garbage-can model’ and Mintzberg's ‘model of adhocracy’, which is widely recognized as an organizational form that stimulates flexibility and creative adaptation (Hood, 1999).