Suchergebnisse

In diesem Beitrag wird argumentiert, dass temporäre räumliche Nähe zwischen Wirtschaftsakteuren neben der Wissensgenerierung ebenfalls einen produktionsbedingten Zweck verfolgen kann. Dabei werden materielle Konsumgüter aufgrund neuer technologischer Entwicklungen und Trends durch temporäre räumliche Nähe zwischen Endkunden und Produzenten erzeugt und in diesem Beitrag am Beispiel der urbanen Produktion diskutiert. Der temporäre Austausch hat das Ziel, ein den individuellen Wünschen der jeweiligen Kunden entsprechendes materielles Gut in Echtzeit zu erstellen. Ziel dieses Beitrags ist es, produktionsbedingte temporäre räumliche Nähe zu analysieren aufzuzeigen, wie sie Produktionsstandorte und Produktionsstätten sowie die Beziehung zu Kunden prägt. Anhand einer Literaturanalyse und Fallstudien wird produktionsbedingte temporäre räumliche Nähe in Großunternehmen, Manufakturen, Makerspaces und sogenannten Festivals untersucht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Kunden intensiv in den Produktionsprozess eingebunden sind. Veränderungen der Produktionsweise und Produktionsstätte sind die Konsequenz, da es um die Herstellung von Einzelstücken geht. Zusätzlich verändern sich aber auch die Produktionsstandorte, die aufgrund größerer Marktnähe in stark frequentierte Einzelhandelslagen oder Wohngebiete rücken. Produktionsbedingte temporäre räumliche Nähe zwischen Produzenten und Kunden und damit verbundene innerstädtische Produktion wird die massenhafte Herstellung von Konsumgütern nicht ablösen. Sie ist jedoch ein wichtiger Faktor, der die der Wahl von Geschäftsmodellen und Unternehmensstandorten angesichts des gegenwärtigen Trends der Individualisierung von Konsumgütern beeinflusst.

The objective of this paper is to understand how work processes and the quality of physical places support creative knowledge generation. The creation of knowledge is linked to both social space and physical place, and is influenced by steady socio-spatial dynamics. In workplaces, the space-time dynamics of knowledge creation coincide with the physical characteristics of place. On the basis of qualitative interviews with Design thinking workshop facilitators, as well as participants, the influence of three types of creative support (psychosocial, inspirational and functional) is linked to the elements of place, people and process in this specific innovation method. This paper discusses in which ways place, people and process contribute to creating a creativity-enhancing workspace and inspiring atmosphere in temporary spatial proximity. Eventisation of the innovation process, and interaction in temporary spatial proximity, are important prerequisites for keeping knowledge creation exciting.

PurposeLocal networks of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are founded both on collaborative and competitive inter-organizational relationships within the same network characterised by spatial proximity between firms. This paper aims to propose an original analytical framework to understand how spatial proximity between firms within local networks influences strategy of SMEs.Design/methodology/approachTheories and the existing knowledge were used to develop a preliminary conceptual framework. This preliminary framework was then developed as data collection and analysis were carried out. That is, in the more advanced stages of the research, both the literature and data allowed the design of a more specific analytical framework with the development of theoretical propositions. The data supporting the findings was derived from extensive content analysis of secondary documents from manufacturers, channel agents, industry organisations, public agencies and statistical sources. These data were also used as background briefing for 52 in-depth interviews with 36 senior managers within the sector.FindingsAn extensive qualitative research carried out in two major local networks of footwear production in Portugal shows that spatial proximity influences the following major variables of SME strategy: offer specialization, market specialization, competitive behaviour and collaborative behaviour. This paper examines the strong subcontracting relationships among manufacturers within each local network, discusses the competitive and collaborative behaviour of firms within their local networks of subcontracting and explains the nature of interaction between them contributing for a better understanding on the impact of spatial proximity on strategy.Practical implicationsSome management implications can be drawn from this research at the level of the network and of the firm, although both levels are profoundly intertwined. The paper discusses both these implications.Originality/valueThis research clarifies the relationship between spatial proximity and strategy of SMEs immersed in local networks. In particular, the findings show that, in the context of local networks of footwear production, SME strategy is influenced by spatial proximity between firms in the following characteristics of strategy: offer specialization, market specialization, competitive behaviour and collaborative behaviour. As it was discussed and empirically supported, spatial proximity between firms favour resource mobility, firms' interaction and reduction of transaction costs, which, in turn, impact strategy.

In this article, we defend the thesis that geographical proximity remains essential for knowledge transfer, but not often implies the co-location of innovation and research activities. The need for geographical proximity now mostly affects certain stages of the process of production, research or development. Short or medium-term visits are often sufficient for the partners to exchange the information needed for cooperation. The mobility of individuals makes it possible to implement this mechanism. Temporary geographical proximity implies a strong relation to space but one that differs in nature from that described by the traditional approaches.

AbstractThis article develops a relational explanation for judicial corruption, namely, a spatial theory of institutional proximity, to complement existing behavioral and institutional approaches. Institutional proximity refers to the spatial proximity between adjacent political or social institutions, including courts. This proximity can be a result of political or administrative regulations, workplace interactions, or the mobility of individual actors between them. Linking ecologies and space travelers are two key spatial mechanisms through which institutional proximity enables judicial corruption. They pave the pathways of judicial corruption, that is, how corrupt transactions and related social interactions are facilitated by and communicated through institutions adjacent to the court. The theory is operationalized in the context of Chinese courts and the various pathways of judicial corruption are exemplified through a number of publicly reported cases in China.

There is a general belief that firms, one way or another, benefit from being located near other firms or organisations like universities or government agencies. This idea has attracted widespread interest among economic geographers, regional scientists and, more recently, policymakers. The problem is, however, that it is often merely assumed that these benefits exist and their existence is not actually tested. Therefore, there was a clear need to take a more systematic look at how and to what extent the performance of firms is affected by being located close to other organisations. To address that need, we have undertaken an empirical analysis of the Dutch software sector focusing on those questions. Unlike most previous studies on this topic, we have gathered data at the firm level to test some of the main assumptions regarding the benefits of spatial proximity. In all, we interviewed 265 software firms, a group that is representative of the large population of small software firms in the Netherlands. The first assumption that we tested is that firms located in regions where many other organisations are concentrated perform better than firms located outside such areas. Firms that are located in each others' vicinity benefit from agglomeration economies and, as a result, are more likely to benefit from the spill-over of knowledge. Many studies that have tested this assumption have used data pertaining to the regional level and, therefore, could not control whether the effect may be caused by differences between the firms located in the various regions. Using data on the firm level, we could control for some firm characteristics (the age, size and innovation input of the firm and the way they dealt with changes in the market). We found that despite the widespread urbanisation and small size of the Netherlands still regional differences are large enough to affect the performance of software firms. A location in a region where computer services are concentrated positively affects the innovative productivity of software firms, even when we control for differences between firms. The second assumption that we examined is whether spatial proximity between a software firm and its business partners affects its innovative performance. One of the main reasons why spatial proximity between organisations is considered to be beneficial is that it facilitates the (face-to-face) interactions required for the exchange of more tacit knowledge. We have examined this with regard to the relationship a firm may have both with its customers and with the previous employer of (one of) the founder(s). Generally speaking, we can conclude that software firms also benefit from being located near business partners. However, contrary to what is often assumed higher levels of face-to-face interaction are not the reason why spatial proximity has a positive effect on a firm's innovative performance. Our results indicate that spatial proximity does appear to facilitate interactions between organisations, but that this does not automatically imply that such relationships also stimulate a firm's innovative performance.

AbstractSince some decades, inequality has been attracting a growing interest within political debate as well as in theoretical and empirical studies. Considering inequality at a regional level offers useful insights for policy makers, facilitating the assessment of the effectiveness of strategies aimed at reducing regional disparities and helping in developing place‐based actions. The study of regional inequality poses some relevant issues related to the spatial nature of data. In fact, dealing with georeferenced data implies the opportunity of considering the spatial interactions among regional units that are likely to play a role in shaping the inequality dynamics. Some studies have highlighted the importance of incorporating spatial effects in a traditional measure of inequality such as the Gini index. These studies are based on the definition of a proximity structure, which allows one to discriminate between the spatial and the non‐spatial component of inequality. Different definitions of the proximity structure are likely to influence the spatial component of inequality. Those aspects are analysed in the present paper to offer more detailed insights in the territorial dimension of inequality. The measures and their decompositions are discussed in the case of European NUTS 3 regions.

Scholarly interest in issue ownership is growing rapidly. Although originally introduced as a competence-oriented, alternative concept to the predominantly spatial understanding of voting and party behaviour, parties' policy positions are an inescapable aspect of issue ownership. Using data for multiple issues in several countries over time, this article shows that the party with issue ownership sides with the median voter. A party earns issue ownership by taking up a position as close to as many voters as possible. Moreover, the analysis indicates that a party's issue emphasis only matters to issue ownership insofar as it is used as a device to make its position credible to voters. Hence, to have issue ownership is to have a credible position, and in that sense, issue ownership has less added theoretical value to spatial proximity than previous literature suggests.

AbstractThe role of geographical proximity in fostering innovation is widely recognized, and local flows of information and knowledge‐sharing play a critical role in interactive learning. The aim of this paper is to evaluate synergistic effects and non‐linearities in spatial and non‐spatial proximity in university–industry collaborations. Previous studies have evaluated this issue in scientific collaboration. Here, we examine the role of geographical and cognitive proximity in university‐industry collaboration using data from collaborative projects between academic research groups and firms in Brazil (4,342 collaborations involving 3,063 firms and 1,738 research groups in most scientific fields). Our results reveal synergistic effects that mutually reinforce the benefits of geographical and cognitive proximity and reveal non‐linearity in the impacts of geographical and cognitive proximity in university‐industry collaborations. The contribution of our research is its examination of synergistic effects and non‐linearities in university‐industry collaborations that include information exchange and knowledge‐sharing between firms and their academic partners.