The Emergence of a Knowledge-Based View of Clusters and Its Implications for Cluster Governance

Abstract

This article examines the knowledge component in cluster literature from its origins to the present. A chronological perspective is deployed in order to shed light on how the concept of clusters has evolved. Given the increasing interest in clusters as knowledge repositories, and the apparent conviction among policymakers of the manageability of clusters, lessons learned from knowledge management (KM) practices in organizations might well be applied to the many policy efforts aimed at governing clusters. We argue that introducing KM initiatives on a regional level should be accompanied by an understanding of the possible downfalls that are associated with KM failures.

Keywords:

• clusters
• ICT
• knowledge-based view

Notes

1. GREMI stands for it Groupe de Recherche Européen sur les Milieux Innovateurs, and consists of a group of European and North-American economic geographers: http://www.unine.ch/protectirer/Gremi/accueil.htm.

2. For instance, the Californian climate is, among other factors, supposed to have played a role in the establishment of military and aircraft firms in Silicon Valley, for it enabled “all-year round testing” (Swann & Prevezer, 1996, p. 1140).

3. In the literature available on this topic, Marshall's notion of local atmosphere has been referred to as “local broadcasting,” “noise,” or “buzz” as well (Bathelt et al., 2004). Feldman (2001), in addition, relates Marshall's quote to the concept of social capital.

4. Many more scholars have published on the concept of knowledge spillovers. The ones mentioned here serve to illustrate this notion.

5. Just to illustrate, one of the examples to come under discussion in Marshall's Principles of Economics (1920) involves a perceived cluster that consists of a conglomeration of over five hundred small Russian villages dedicated to various branches of woodwork: “one village makes nothing but spokes for the wheels of vehicles, another nothing but the bodies and so on” (Marshall, 1920, p. 223).

6. Nevertheless, Marshall's contributions still are at the forefront of academic debate on clusters. Or as Brown and Duguid (2000, p. 16) so eloquently put it: “Despite all the recent insightful writings on ‘clusters’ …, ‘technopoles’ and ‘innovative milieux’ …, and ‘regional advantage’ … it can feel as though researchers are only adding footnotes to Alfred Marshall's magisterial economic exploration of ‘localization,’ written more than a century ago.”

7. Not to say that the interest in industrial districts or regional economies disappeared entirely. Surely, a number of scholars kept challenging the concept of Fordism during this period of time.

8. This so-called prevalence of mass production over craftsmanship, to which Piore and Sabel refer to as the first industrial divide (19th century, see later part of this article) is not to be mistaken for the rise of the Industrial Revolution (late s17th, early 18th century), but which also has been referred to as the “substitution of machines—rapid, regular, precise, tireless—for human skill and effort” (Landes, 2005 [1998], p. 186).

9. The so-called Fordist perspective (or Fordism) on industrial organization refers to Henry Ford, and basically entails the separation of conception and execution of tasks (Piore & Sabel, 1984). It is a “system based on the production of long runs of standardized commodities for stable ‘mass’ markets” (Tomaney, 1994, p. 159).

10. This example only serves to provide a vivid description of the Italian cluster from an Italian district school perspective. Other examples as observed by other scholars would suffice as well. Thus, the decision to discuss the Modena knitwear industry, as observed by Lazerson, is just a matter of choice.

11. The more or less traditional artisan structure of the district was for instance heavily supported by the Italian government. Artisans were granted a legal status which enables them to profit from all kinds of tax benefits and financial support, such as subsidized loans (Lazerson, 1993).

12. Besides the revitalization of regional economies, Sabel mentions four other developments that are assumed to have played a role in this case. In order not to deviate too much from the subject at hand, we will not discuss these developments. For an extensive discussion see Sabel (1994, p. 103 and further).

13. A concept, according to Lundvall (1996), not to be mistaken for the concept of information society, nor does it necessarily need to involve a high-tech economy.

14. As well as to forget, which is regarded as a prerequisite for learning new skills in particular (Lundvall, 1996; Johnson, 1992).

15. Noteworthy: Scott articulates these five policy interventions with the cultural-products industry of Los Angeles in mind.

16. Michael Porter probably wouldn't agree with this suggestion. As he sees it, “rigidities tend to arise when government suspends or intervenes in competition” (Porter, 1998b, p. 85).

17. The transaction cost approach is mainly informed by economics and information processing theories, and sees correcting market failures as the most important feature of organizations and in particular of hierarchies.

18. Early KM initiatives were characterized by a number of biased assumptions. The management trap, for instance, refers to managers' bias towards the need to control knowledge, and to direct attention to KM only when managers expect a direct benefit to the organization. Likewise, the local learning trap refers to a situation in which managers focus mainly on supporting individual learning and do not recognize the importance of communities and organizations as a whole benefiting from KM. Finally, the ICT trap refers to situations in which KM initiatives are biased towards a stock approach to knowledge as well as a technology driven orientation (Huysman & De Wit, 2004).

19. This research was conducted using a sample of 423 organizations located in the United Kingdom, continental Europe, and the US, with an annual turnover exceeding US$347 million (pounds200 million). According to the researchers, “organizations of this size have the greatest need to implement KM initiatives, have possibly the greatest capability and resources to do so, and potentially can reap the greatest benefits” (KPMG, 2000, p. 5).

20. Social capital has been defined as “the sum of the resources, actual or virtual, that accrue to an individual or group by virtue of possessing a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition” (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992, p. 119).

21. The phrase web 2.0 is as common in use as it is ambiguous in its meaning. Basically, it implies a change in web usage, as the average Internet user has obtained more possibilities to contribute to the Internet by supplying content. This, for instance, takes the form of weblogs (e.g., MySpace.com, Blogger.com), social bookmarking (e.g., Del.icio.us, Digg.com, Newsvine.com), social network sites (e.g. LinkedIn.com, Xing.com, Facebook.com), wikis (Wikipedia.org), RSS feeds, and other forms of social software and applications (such as Flickr.com and YouTube.com).