This monthly selection of articles is been carried out by Philippe Gugler and Basile de Raemy, the Center for Competitiveness, University of Fribourg. The entire selection, carried out since 2013, can be consulted on the academic articles page of our web.

How do firms in  co-located clusters interact? Evidence from Greater Montreal

By: E. Turkina, A. Van Assche, D. Doloreux. Journal of Economic Geography, DOI: 10.1093/jeg/lbaa019, December 2020.

Abstract: “We developed a theoretical framework to explore how firms agglomerate and develop linkages within and across co-located clusters in a competitive urban economy. We applied our framework to Montreal, where we analyzed relationships among its aerospace, information technology and artificial intelligence firms. Using network community structure analysis, we show that firm linkages largely agglomerate within industrial lines. However, there are important nuances. Clusters themselves are not homogeneous and firms specializing in similar or complementary technological subfields develop denser connections with each other. Moreover, technological similarity and complementarity, as well as a common business context, force some groups of firms to develop linkages across clusters, creating significant overlap across certain industries.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]

Testing the role of  intra-metropolitan local factors on knowledge-intensive industries’ location  choices

By: M. Gomez-Antonio, S. Sweeney. The Annals of Regional Science, DOI: 10.1007/s00168-020-01035-w, January 2021.

Abstract: “This paper contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship and economic geography by identifying factors that determine the attractiveness of a site in a metropolitan area, as the basis for the emergence of high-tech firms’ spatial concentration. The econometric model provides distinct advantages over the largely descriptive approaches that have been dominant in the point pattern analysis literature for clusters. We focus on the role of two types of knowledge spillovers on a firm’s location choices: (1) those that arise from collocating with other companies from the same industry, and (2) universities’ knowledge spillovers. A model is estimated using data on firm births in high and medium–high-technology manufacturing industries, during 2000–2016 in Madrid. Our results show that the main source through which firms benefit from knowledge spillovers is through proximity to firms in the same industry and not from universities.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]

How does cluster  location and intellectual capital impact entrepreneurial success within  high-growth firms? 

By: Y. Temouri, V. Pereira, G. W. Muschert, V. Ramiah, M. Babula. Journal of Intellectual Capital, DOI: 10.1108/JIC-02-2020-0066, December 2020.

Abstract: “Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of intellectual capital and knowledge management in the entrepreneurial success of firms through a research model which is subsequently tested empirically. Design/methodology/approach – The paper utilises the knowledge-based perspective to formulate three sets of hypotheses which the authors subsequently test in the empirical analysis on data derived from the Orbis database, which includes over 1-million data points from approximately 240,000 firms across 174 geographic subdivisions of economic regions in 14 European countries, from 2010 to 2013. The analysis utilises probit model regressions on the likelihood of becoming a high-growth firms (HGF), in the presence of a number of control factors including firm age, firm size, tangible assets, foreign ownership, competitiveness (via Herfindahl index), return on assets, industry sector and country location. Findings – Findings from our analysis suggest that investments in intangible assets and generating patents from research and development (R&D) efforts is positively related to the likelihood of becoming a HGF. In addition, cluster membership seems to be a positive influence on becoming a HGF, however the moderating impact of intangible investments and patents is less clear in clusters. Research  limitations/implications – The authors highlight the mixed effects from cluster membership and the beneficial impact from intellectual capital and knowledge management in achieving high growth firm status. Originality/value – The authors derive and test our research model, which outlines the interrelationship of the various factors leading to firms becoming high-growth firms. The results suggest that there may be further fruitful ground for future investigation in the intersections of knowledge management and intellectual capital concepts within entrepreneurial contexts.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]

Industrial ecology and sustainable change:  inertia and transformation in Mexican agro-industrial sugarcane clusters?

By: J. R. Gallego-Bono, M. R. Tapia-Baranda. European Planning Studies, DOI: 10.1080/09654313.2020.1869186, January 2021.

Abstract: “This article explores the capacity of industrial ecology to generate sustainable development in Latin America’s agro-industrial clusters. An evolutionary analytical approach is outlined, which is used to study Veracruz’s (Mexico) sugarcane cluster through a qualitative methodology. Our goal is to show that social innovation is key to promoting the sustainable development of clusters characterized by fragmented social, power, and innovation networks. Accordingly, innovations in the realm of industrial ecology often have a dual impact. On the one hand, in the dominant network, industrial ecology is reduced to its technological dimensions within a political-economic framework constrained by its external insertion and the maintenance of power dynamics. On the other hand, industrial ecology is a vehicle for a kind of Schumpeterian entrepreneurship driven by the core values of trust, transparency, acknowledgement of other people’s capabilities, and non-discrimination. This new transformative network promotes true socio-technical change by enhancing local resources and involving other intermediate actors. It also creates a localized agro-food system that promotes the development of cluster-based dynamics in the territory through radical innovations in industrial ecology. The article presents a new way of inserting industrial ecology into the dynamics of clusterbased organizations.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]

Secondary city  invention: internal resources versus agglomeration allures

 By: B. Ó hUallacháin, J. Douma. Regional Studies, DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2020.1854712, December 2020.

Abstract: “Empirical investigations of the geography of invention, especially regional knowledge production functions, attempt to pinpoint determinants of patenting intensity. They depict organizations reflexively locating their assets in response to place-based attributes. The inordinate concentration of patent generation in large metropolitan areas amplifies this

perspective. However, organizational formation, patenting behaviours, and general economic development evolve from long-run endogenous processes that challenge causal modelling. A research design that reassesses the relationships between the access to and use of internal and external resources and invention intensity is employed. The focus is on secondary metropolitan areas exhibiting a variety of dominant organizational forms and functional integration with larger population centres. Results suggest that integration within large population centres positively correlates with invention intensity. In geographically detached places, engagement by technologically sophisticated corporate champions associates with higher invention rates.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]

Research on green innovation effect of  industrial agglomeration from perspective of environmental regulation: Evidence  in China

By: X. Li, X. Lai, F. Zhang. Journal of Cleaner Production, DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.125583, December 2020.

Abstract: “Innovation has been valued as a main driving force of social development, and the need for environmental protection has further raised green innovation development. Previous studies have confirmed that industrial agglomeration has an innovation spillover effect, and furthermore it varies with different agglomeration modes. However, the addition of environmental regulation could exert effects on the innovation spillover of industrial agglomeration. Based on Chinese provincial panel data from 2003 to 2017, this paper tested the effect of different agglomeration modes on green technology innovation (green process innovation and green product innovation) under environmental regulation. Research found that: when industrial agglomeration promotes green technology innovation, environmental regulation will inhibit agglomeration innovation; when industrial agglomeration hinders green technology innovation, environmental planning will promote agglomeration innovation. The regional difference of cluster development are obvious in China, and the effect of agglomeration innovation in different regions is also different. In the implementation of environmental regulation for each region, it is necessary to combine the current situation of cluster development to effectively promote green technology innovation.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]

Cast apart by the elites: how status influences  assortative matching in industrial clusters

By: A. Maghssudipour, P. A. Balland, E. Giuliani. Industry and Innovation, DOI: 10.1080/13662716.2020.1860738, January 2021.

Abstract: “In this article we investigate how status considerations influence inter-firm knowledge transfer in industrial clusters. Using evidence of a highly dynamic wine cluster and network analysis methods of Stochastic Actor-Oriented Modelling, we find that status considerations drive assortative matching in the formation of ties within a cluster. This means that low-status firms are cast from the ‘circles that count’, while high-status firms are likely to interact with similar others. Far from being an equal space of knowledge sharing, some clusters may instead be spaces of social hierarchies and elitist ties.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]

Exploring EU’s Regional Potential in  Low-Carbon Technologies

By: E. Bergamini, G. Zachmann. Sustainability, DOI: 10.3390/su13010032, December 2020.

Abstract: “This research builds on the regional innovation literature, and aims to better understand the potential for, and development of, low-carbon technologies in the European Union. Exploiting the OECD’s REGPAT for regionalised patent data, we estimate the potential advantage of European NUTS2 regions have in 14 green technologies. We use network proximity between technologies and between regions to understand technological/regional clusters of revealed technological advantage and build the regressors for estimating regional potential advantage in specific technologies via zero-inflated beta regressions. Based on this, we explore the region-technology networks, finding two gravity centres for green innovation in France’s and Germany’s industrial and high-tech hubs (Île de France, Stuttgart, and Oberbayern). We also construct a dataset of lagged potentials and labour market, economic and demographic variables, and perform an elastic net regularisation to understand the association with current revealed advantages. Our approach indicates an association between technological advantage in green technologies and the (lags of) participation rates in labour markets, sectoral employment in science and technology, general higher education, duration of employment, percentage of GDP spent on R&D (public and private) and other expenditure on R&D. If confirmed by causality tests, the established associations could help in designing horizontal economic policies to enable specific regions to realise their specialisation potential in specific green technologies.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]

Clustering of regional tourism service markets  according to indicators of the functioning of subjects of tourism activity

By: G. O. Gorina, V. V. Barabanova, G. A. Bohatyryova, O. A. Nikolaichuk, A. M. Romanukha. Journal of Geology, Geography and Geoecology, DOI: 10.15421/112061, December 2020.

Abstract: “Clustering of regional tourism service markets of Ukraine is performed according to the indicators of functioning of subjects of tourism activity (number of subjects of tourism activity; number of stuff members of tourist activities; income from tourism; number of tourists served by tour operators and travel agents; cost of travel packages sold). The clustering was performed in the software STATISTICA 10, the Ward method was chosen as the clustering algorithm, and the Euclidean distance was chosen as a measure of distance. The calculations made it possible to distinguish 6 clusters of regional tourism service markets of Ukraine, which are formed at a threshold distance of 0.5, namely: cluster 1 is Kyiv city, cluster 2 is Zaporizhia, Kyiv, Poltava, Ivano-Frankivsk regions, cluster 3 is Dnipropetrovsk , Lviv regions, cluster 4 is Odessa, Kharkiv regions, cluster 5 is formed from Zhytomyr, Ternopil, Chernihiv, Kirovograd and Luhansk regions, cluster 6 unites Vinnytsia, Chernivtsi, Donetsk, Cherkasy, Transcarpathian, Rivne, Khmelnytsky, Volyn, Sumy, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions. The clusters on the vertical dendogram of hierarchical clustering are visualized, the spatial distribution of clusters of regional markets of tourist services is shown on the map of Ukraine. It is established that the high degree of regional differentiation of tourist service markets in Ukraine is caused by differences in the distribution of natural resources, climatic features of the regions, cultural and historical conditionality, and uneven placement of transport, communication, resort and entertainment infrastructures, asymmetrical distribution of recreational resources. It is suggested to take into account the restrictions of development of regional tourism service markets of Ukraine (clusters of regional tourism service markets) in terms of spatial polarization, to distribute them into internal (historically-formed basic and innovative determinants) and external ones.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]

Algeria Digital Cluster: vector of development of the  digital economy in Algeria

By: M. Bouazid, L. Azouaou. Al-riyada for Business Economics Journal, Vol. 7, No 1, January 2021.

Abstract: “The Algerian state has been prioritizing the creation of clusters since 2007, when the first national conference on industrial strategies took place. Therefore, the purpose of this article will be double: on one hand, it will proceed to the analysis of the economic relations inside the Algeria Digital Cluster and on the other hand it will study the impact that the cluster has on the competitiveness of the companies that constitute its members. In order to do so, the article will be structured in three parts. The first one focus on a review of the literature surrounding the concept of clusters, the second one will present a structural approach of clusters in Algeria and on the third one will carry out an analysis of economic relations inside Algeria’s digital cluster (ADC).” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]