With or Without Clusters: Facilitating Innovation through a Differentiated and Combined Network Approach

Over the past decades, economic and innovation policy across Europe moved in the direction of creating regional clusters of related firms and institutions. Creating clusters through public policy is risky, complex and costly, however. Moreover, it is not necessary to rely on clusters to stimulate innovation. A differentiated and combined network approach to enhancing innovation and stimulating economic growth may be more efficient and effective, especially though not exclusively in regions lacking clusters. The challenge of such a policy is to mitigate the bottlenecks associated with “global pipeline”, “local buzz” and “stand alone” strategies used by innovative firms and to combine these strategies with a view to their complementarity in terms of knowledge effects. Private and semi-public brokers will be key in the evolving policy, as timely organizational change is crucial for continued innovation, while brokers also need to mitigate governance problems. This requires region-specific knowledge in terms of sectors, life cycles, institutional and socio-cultural factors, and yields spatially differentiated and differentiating adjustment strategies. The role of public policy is to assist in recruiting, provide start-up funding and monitor brokers. With this, policy moves towards a decentralized, process-based, region-specific, spatially diverging and multi-level system of innovation that is geared towards the evolving innovation strategies of firms.     

Increasing Role of Services in Competitive Power and Innovativeness of Firms and Industrial Clusters

The aim of this paper is to discuss the importance of different types of global services for industrial firms and clusters in terms of their economic competitiveness and innovative performance. The theoretical debates argue that globalization, deregulation and the new production organization make it necessary to use global services that are supplied easily with the help of new telecommunication technologies. The existing empirical studies provide some supporting evidence. However, they also indicate that global service firms can be attained by only smaller numbers of industrial firms and clusters. Still, in-house services besides temporal and informal mechanisms are important to meet the needs of the specialized services, even for the firms that try to become a part of the global production system. The paper focuses on three main questions: “What types of global services are becoming crucial for manufacturing firms and what type of services are still local and national? Is there a significant difference between the characteristics of firms that use the same type of services? To what extent is having access to global services important for the innovativeness of industrial firms and clusters? This paper looks for the answers to these questions based on existing case studies as well as this study of three industrial clusters in Turkey. The findings indicate that there is not a perfect match between theory and empirical evidence and there is a need for more refined theoretical discourses on industry–service relations.     

The Role of Leading Firms in the Evolution of SME Clusters: Evidence from the Leather Products Cluster in Florence

Clusters that emerged in the past have changed during the latest decades, so that today the research challenge in economic geography is on their evolution over time. The aim of this paper is to update the evolutionary path of SME Italian clusters, which faced the economic crisis are undergoing a process of decline in the number of firms. Furthermore, changes in the techno-economic landscape and in the competitive environment have generated new challenges. In this context, some leading firms, able to connect local resources (and firms) to global networks, have emerged over time and today they act as a gatekeeper. The focus will be on local networks interacting with leading firms and particular attention will be devoted to the pattern of co-evolution and to the geographical dimension of this co-evolutionary process. To empirically verify if other firms in the cluster may co-evolve with the leading firm over time, a deep analysis of the Gucci network in the leather products cluster in Florence will be carried out.     

李济深何时出任国民革命军第四军军长

作为国民革命时期崛起的风云人物,李济深曾长期担任过国民革命军第四军军长,这是不争的历史事实;但他是从何时开始担任这一要职的?对此史学界说法不一。一种认为是在1925年7月,如《中国大百科全书》及《中华民国史辞典》等书的有关作者就持这种看法(该书编委会:《中国大百科全书·中国历史》第二卷,第二版,北京:中国大百科     

Labour Relations and the Transfer of Knowledge in Industrial Clusters: Why do Skilled Workers Share Knowledge with Colleagues in Other Firms?

Industrial clusters are held to offer competitive advantages to firms that accrue from the transfer of tacit knowledge between skilled workers co-located in spatially bound regions. This paper argues that informal knowledge transfers between skilled employees working in spatially bounded industrial clusters might have an association with the labour relationship between employers and employees. In the literature on industrial clusters general knowledge is readily traded through codified texts and collegial networks but high value, tacit knowledge transfers occur less frequently but are critical to the success of firms located in clusters. Tacit knowledge transfers are held to occur when workers move to other firms because of firm death or poaching but less frequently through contacts between colleagues from other firms. Industrial clusters are said to offer labour market advantages for skilled workers in the form of ample job opportunities and rising wages, which engender firm loyalty and discourage the transfer of tacit knowledge of competitive value to other firms. However, the limited empirical evidence available on actual working conditions for skilled workers in regional industrial clusters indicates that this argument is contestable. Some evidence suggests that there are limited wage premiums accruing to the industrial districts, a limited role for geographic proximity, and weak localised returns on seniority and education. We argue that in such circumstances high value knowledge between workers in different firms might be traded as an act of epistemic solidarity or sociability that disregards the interests of employer organisations. Such actions might vary by region and country in relation to the prevailing system of labour relations. Australian labour relations are offered as a case in point.     

Take the Right Decision Everybody

Abstract

The archaeological deposits in medieval towns are among the most important and distinctive heritage monuments in Norway. At the same time they are among the more challenging phenomena confronting heritage management authorities, municipal planners, and property owners/developers alike, especially in relation to building and infrastructure projects. The modern settlement has developed on top of medieval and younger deposits which means that not only are they an irreplaceable depository of historical information, but they also form a significant part of the modern town’s physical foundation.

Since 2002 the Directorate for Cultural Heritage in Norway (Riksantikvaren) has been funding systematic monitoring of archaeological deposits of the World Heritage Site Bryggen in Bergen. The monitoring programme consists of several approaches: archaeological assessment of the deposits state of preservation, biochemical investigation of preservation conditions within the deposits, hydrogeological mapping of the water table, water flow, and other given parameters.

Continuous systematic monitoring by using testable, replicable methods and measures, data, and results acquire increased quality and validity. These in turn provide the cultural heritage management with a toolbox for making correct decisions and thereby allow the government’s preservation targets to be attained. But, most important, it guarantees the preservation of the ‘underground archives’ and at the same time allows the urban centres to develop.

This paper presents the knowledge developed through monitoring the Bryggen site as a basis for an official Norwegian standard covering archaeological, biochemical, and hydrogeological deposit investigations.     

当戏楼已成往事

2004年,京剧大师程砚秋诞辰100周年;京剧大师梅兰芳诞辰110周年.2004年6月13日,前门大碗茶戏楼开业两周年纪念,却在准备搬走;同在前门的当年北京外城最早的戏院--广和楼也是门可罗雀.     

Facilitating spatial thinking in world geography using Web-based GIS

Advocates for geographic information system (GIS) education contend that learning about GIS promotes students’ spatial thinking. Empirical studies are still needed to elucidate the potential of GIS as an instructional tool to support spatial thinking in other geography courses. Using a non-equivalent control group research design, this study examines the effect of using Web-based GIS in a world geography course on the development of students’ spatial thinking abilities. The findings indicate that Web-based GIS activities implemented in this study significantly enhanced students’ spatial thinking skills.     

Facilitating Interaction: Board Games as Social Lubricants in the Ancient Near East

This re‐evaluation of existing data on board games from the Near Eastern Bronze Age demonstrates their function as social lubricants in cross‐cultural interaction. Board games are situated theoretically as liminoid practices, which lie outside the bounds of normative social behaviour and allow for interaction across social boundaries. Utilizing double‐sided game boards, with an indigenous game on one side and a newly introduced game on the other, the games of senet, mehen and twenty squares provide evidence for social interactions. Cypriots had adopted Egyptian mehen and senet by the third millennium BC, and indigenized the games. This lies in contrast to the game of twenty squares, which had a particular role among elites in the Late Bronze Age interaction sphere. This anthropological discussion of evidence relating to gaming seeks to inspire further research on the role of board games in society.     

Changing partnerships: Firms and the French state

Lindblom's hypothesis that in market‐oriented systems businessmen predominate over statesmen is tested in relation to the way French firms have switched partners since the 1980s. Instead of a dirigiste—style special relationship with government, they have formed multinational partnerships. The implications of the new competitive context, under the pressure of delocalisation panic, are considered, prior to the examination of the effects of nationalisation and privatisation on the national identity of firms. The virtual bankruptcy of Crédit Lyonnais is examined as an example of state‐dependent capitalism, and the impact of EC competition policy is considered. The partial industrial disengagement by the French government in favour of market competition reinforces the applicability of Lindblom's hypothesis to the relations between firms and state in France.     

长白山拍貂散记

<正>紫貂是一种特产于亚洲北部的貂属动物,在白天活动和猎食。通过嗅觉和听觉猎取小型动物,包括鼠类、小型鸟和鱼类。有时也吃浆果和松果。紫貂大多在森林的地面上筑窝,在天气恶劣或遭遇捕杀时,它们会躲在窝穴中,甚至将食物储藏在里面。紫貂广泛分布于乌拉尔山、西伯利亚、蒙古、中国东北以及日本北海道等地。     

博物馆,当可以免费走进

<正>政策:中宣部、财政部、文化部、国家文物局1月23日联合下发《关于全国博物馆、纪念馆免费开放的通知》。根据通知,全国各级文化文物部门归口管理的公共博物馆、纪念馆,全国爱国主义教育示范基地将全部实行免费开放。     

When the Past becomes the Present

L'oracle pour les Recabites (Jr 35,18-19 TM // 42,18-19 LXX) presente quelques differences notables suivant qu'on le lit dans sa version massoretique ou dans la LXX. Il s'agit essentiellement du changement de locuteur et de destinataire, de la construction differente des personnages, ainsi que d'insistances differentes d'une version a l'autre. De la sorte, ce texte se revele etre un bon terrain pour verifier a petite echelle que les differences entre les narrations paralleles des deux versions connues du livre de Jeremie impliquent une strategie narrative differente, ce qui a un impact sur le sens du recit lui-meme pour le lecteur. L'article entend montrer tout l'interet qu'il y a a prendre au serieux separement le TM et la LXX, de sorte qu'apparaisse la specificite de chaque texte dans sa confrontation a l'autre. De la comparaison ressortiront des indications quant a la qualite eraire de chaque texte, mais aussi sans doute l'un ou l'autre indice concernant l'histoire textuelle de ce livre biblique.     

草香时节

一个雨季冷不丁从山顶奔涌而来,让一切润湿和记忆的神志又得以恢复。春天的记忆有些零乱,就像一个瘪嘴的老太太回味往年的旧事,有些断断续续,陈年的记忆夹杂着近年的事     

External Leveraging and Technological Upgrading Among East Asian Firms in the US

This paper examines the innovation strategies driving Asian firms' investment in the US based on the resource-based model of knowledge. Specifically, it is shown that Asian firms' competitive advantage revolves around their ability to capture rents through a series of technological and marketing capabilities that collectively constitute the firms' knowledge resource base. The process of learning is documented by shedding light on the major sources of knowledge acquisition that enhance technological capabilities internally and externally. Specifically, this empirical research, based on a large-scale quantitative survey of Taiwanese, South Korean, and Singaporean firms in the US that was conducted between 2003 and 2004, shows that the firms in industrializing Asian economies (henceforth the IAFs) are directly investing in the US and setting up R&D operations there to acquire knowledge that enables them to become more innovative. A variety of technology sourcing strategies practiced among these IAFs was found, depending on their firm-specific variables (e.g. size and sector) and their prior technological capabilities. The types of technology and knowledge sources also go beyond conventional technological know-how to embrace the entire production chain from manufacturing technologies to expertise in marketing and distribution.     

Globalizing China: The Rise of Mainland Firms in the Global Economy

Two economic geographers survey the changing trends of China's outward foreign direct investment. Based on materials derived from original field work as well as published studies, they shed light on the major mechanisms through which mainland China's leading firms have successfully ventured abroad, as evidenced by proposed or realized acquisitions of significant corporate entities in the United States, Africa, Europe, and elsewhere in Asia. The authors argue for a political-economy approach to understanding "globalizing China," a complex phenomenon whereby the Chinese state is strategically and intricately enmeshed with the corporate interests of its leading business firms. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F23, L21, L22, M16. 3 figures, 3 tables, 128 references.     

天水至郑州间仰韶文化晚期聚落群与中心聚落的初步考察

本文依据目前的考古调查、发掘等资料,以史前人类近水而居、沿河建村为原则,将仰韶文化晚期的重要分布地——天水至郑州间的聚落遗址划分为12个聚落群,并将聚落分为特大型、大型、中型与小型聚落。认为凡中型以上的聚落都可能是本聚落群的中心聚落,也可能是若干个聚落群所组成的更高一级的中心聚落。在仰韶文化晚期,联邦已开始形成,这个时期可能正处于中国古代文明因素的孕育阶段。     

National Industry Clusters and Regional Specializations in Turkey

The article aims to identify industry clusters in Turkey by examining inter-industry selling and purchasing relationships. The 1990 Turkish input-output table is used to identify similarities between selling and purchasing patterns of the 60 manufacturing industries and derive a matrix that describes relative linkages between them. The article also investigates the regional specializations by using the identified national clusters as templates for an analysis of local patterns. Principle component factor analysis reveals the presence of six identifiable industry clusters. The firms within the identified clusters provide a potential to share technical information and knowledge transfer through formal or informal interactions.