Journal
RESEARCH POLICY
Volume 30, Issue 9, Pages 1479-1500Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/S0048-7333(01)00163-9
Keywords
knowledge tacitness; codification; epistemic community; machinery; industrial districts
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The paper re-examines the twin concepts of knowledge tacitness and codification, which both the literature on (broadly defined) industrial districts, and some recent econometric literature on localized knowledge spillovers have possibly mis-handled. Even within specialized local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) clusters, knowledge may be highly codified and firm-specific. The case study on Brescia mechanical firms shows that knowledge, rather than flowing freely within the cluster boundaries, circulates within a few smaller epistemic communities, each centered around the mechanical engineers of individual machine producers, and spanning to a selected number of suppliers' and customers' technicians. Physical distance among members of each community vary a lot, but even local messages may be highly codified. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available