Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
8
The relationship between multinational i rms and
innovative clusters
Simona Iammarino and Philip McCann
1. Introduction
In the globalised economy, the geographical dispersion of economic and innovative
activities is occurring on a massive scale. However, geographic dispersion does not lead
to the wonderland of a 'borderless world', and the centripetal forces of geography are
not rescinded by globalisation. The breathtaking speed of geographical dispersion has
been accompanied by strong processes of spatial concentration, and much of the recent
cross-border expansion of manufacturing and services production, as well as of innova-
tive activities, has been concentrated in a handful of specialised industrial clusters and
regional systems of innovation, in both advanced and emerging economies.
Globalisation often occurs as an extension of national clusters across national
borders. The i rst implication is that, while some stages of the value chain are interna-
tionally dispersed, others remain spatially concentrated. The second implication is that
those internationally dispersed activities, and especially innovative activities, typically
agglomerate in a limited number of overseas sub-national regions. This clearly indicates
that agglomeration economies continue to matter. What needs to be better understood
though, is how they are changing under the impact of globalisation or, in other words,
what kind of challenges are posed by the new interaction of 'global versus local'. One
crucial aspect of such a relationship deserves particular attention: the creation and dif-
fusion of innovation, which, more than other economic processes, show rather complex
patterns of spatial distribution.
Industrial clustering has been seen as a central component of the processes of regional
innovation and growth. However, the observed variety of geographical innovative
models has been often explained neglecting the nature of new knowledge in dif erent pro-
duction sectors and institutional settings. In particular, technological regimes, industrial
structures and organisational practices, as well as their dynamics, are often overlooked
in favour of simplii ed and stylised constructs on successful regions or clusters.
In this chapter our aim is threefold: (1) to present a typology of clusters that accounts
for both the diversity and the dynamics of spatial coni gurations; (2) to explore how
the innovative strategies of multinational enterprises (MNEs) and the dif erent kinds of
knowledge opportunity of ered by clusters inl uence MNEs' location; and (3) to provide
some illustrations of cluster transition from one spatial model to another, with conse-
quent changes in MNE contributions to spillovers. In all these respects, an evolutionary
approach is needed to overcome the static accounts of the interaction 'global versus
local', and the insui cient consideration still devoted to both the nature of innovation
processes and the structural conditions under which technical change occurs within i rms
and across space.
The chapter is divided into seven sections. In the following section we briel y discuss
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