Power in Firm Networks: What it Means for Regional Innovation Systems (original) (raw)
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: Since the principle that the capacity for innovation is a driving force in the growth of firms or other productive systems has been acknowledged, public policies hold to the view that geographical proximity plays a part in the process of the circulation of technology and knowledge, by fostering the kind of face to face relationships needed to establish and maintain a common pool of knowledge. The aim of this article is to question the relevance of these ideas, and enquiring as to whether geographical proximity is really needed for the diffusion and exchange of knowledge. A body of literature (local systems of production and externalities) considers permanent geographical proximity as a necessary condition for the diffusion of knowledge (I) whereas the articles dealing with transmission channels for externalities, show that geographical proximity only influences the innovative performance of firms if there is effective interaction between the agents (II). We show that organisation ...
In port cities, terminal operating companies (TOCs) are considered as regional innovators. Numerous studies have attempted to find their characteristics; however, relatively few studies have been devoted to exploring softer factors such as human resources or networks with other innovators such as universities and government agencies, not hard factors such as available cargo and cargo processing ability. Therefore, this study aims to examine both hard and softer factors perceived by 232 South Korean and Chinese regional innovators, TOC; the empirical relationships among these characteristics, networks among regional innovators such as industry-university-government networks (I-U-G networks), and regional innovation, the moderating role of the I-U-G networks in improving the regional innovation, and the comparative analysis between Chinese and Korean cases. To achieve these research purposes, an empirical model was employed. As a result, excepting government support policy, remaining variables significantly affected regional innovation. Further, the I-U-G networks moderated the relationships between determinants and regional innovation. These results imply that establishing effective I-U-G