Monica Plechero

Institutional Thickness Revisited

abstract Over the last two decades, the notion of institutional thickness has become a key reference for a large body of work that has sought to provide profound insights into the link between institutions and regional development. However, only few attempts have been made to reassess the concept, to improve its methodology, and to reflect on its empirical application. The aim of this article is to revise the original concept of institutional thickness. We draw on and seek to contribute to current work in economic geography and related disciplines on the role of organizations and institutions in regional development. We identify some crucial limitations and provide suggestions for how they can be addressed. It is argued that much can be gained by (1) explicitly elaborating on the relation between the organizational and institutional dimensions of thickness, (2) moving beyond overly static views on thickness, (3) developing a multiscalar approach to thickness, and (4) identifying features for assessing thickness in absolute and relative terms.

The changing geography of innovation: Chinese and Indian regions and the global flows of innovation

Despite the recent theoretical and empirical advancements in the geography of innovation literature regarding the role that global sources of knowledge may have for regional growth and development, research in this field remains focused on successful regions and clusters in developed countries. Hitherto there has been limited research on the role of regions located in developing countries and the different types of global flows of innovation that link firms located in those regions with the rest of the world. Furthermore, most of the geography of innovation literature remains at the meso level (regional and sectorial), and almost ignores the interplay with firm-level characteristics. Using an interdisciplinary perspective, the thesis contributes to the literature by combining the geography of innovation studies with international business and innovation studies to integrate the meso dimension with the global and micro dimensions. The thesis investigates how certain regions in emerging economies are changing the geography of innovation. More specifically, this thesis aims to investigate the role of the region as well as of firm level factors, especially resources and capabilities, in explaining and sustaining firms’ innovation performances and their possible modes of participation in the globalization of innovation. The empirical focus is on firms located in the Pune region (India) and the Beijing region (China) which belong to three different sectors: software, green biotech and automotive components. The empirical approach is mainly quantitative and is based on a comparative and econometric analysis of primary data collected through two international projects. The thesis consists of four articles at different stages of publication, preceded by an introductory section which frames and discusses the theoretical and methodological aspects of the individual articles.

The geography and structure of Global Innovation Networks : global scope and regional embeddedness

The chapter discusses the spatial aspects of the increased globalization of innovation, analysing both the region’s role in influencing the propensity of actors to engage and to play different roles in global innovation networks (GINs). Until now, different concepts such as global value chain (GVC), global production network (GPN) and GIN have been used to explain the increase globalization of innovation activities. The authors provide a critical overview of these concepts. The involvement of new actors (not just multinationals) from different locations (not just from developed economies) reveal the limitations of frameworks such as GVC and GPN in explaining the structure and dynamics of global networks. The chapter highlights how the concept of GIN, when properly addressed, can lead to a better understanding of the micro and meso dynamics of the new phenomena that arise from the globalization of innovation activities.

Spatial Distribution of Innovation Networks, Technological Competencies and Degree of Novelty in Emerging Economy Firms

ABSTRACT This paper analyses the relationship of the accumulation of technological competencies at the firm level, the spatial distribution of the firms innovation networks and the degree of novelty of product innovation. Firm-based primary data collected in two innovative regions in emerging economies are used to predict higher degrees of novelty in emerging economy firms. Similarly to advanced economy firms, the results show that international linkages are associated with higher degrees of novelty. However, new-to-the-world innovation in emerging country firms is fundamentally externally driven, suggesting that international linkages seem to be a compensating mechanism for the initially lower technological capabilities rather than a complementary source of knowledge.

The role of regional sectoral specialisation on the geography of innovation networks: a comparison between firms located in regions in developed and emerging economies

Recently, there has been a rise of contributions in innovation and economic geography studies on how firms from specific industries and regional innovation systems (RISs) rely on international networks to innovate. So far, the focus has been on single cases, firms located in well-known RISs and international linkages, without really distinguishing those with geographically close partners from those with partners from distant locations. Using primary firm-level data, this article compares the patterns of collaboration for innovation in a selection of Swedish, Norwegian, Chinese and Indian regions with an ICT cluster specialisation. The results show that firms in RISs in emerging economies tend to link more to innovation networks with a real global character, particularly in relation to new-to-the-world innovation. It also shows that firms in the most successful RISs in ICT clusters rely more than others on networks with organisations in close proximity.