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Abstract: Evolutionary economic geography literature claims that firms with ‘related variety relations’ are more innovative than firms with only intra‐industry relations and relations of ‘unrelated variety’. This paper aims to explore this claim for tourism companies in Antalya. The main question is whether innovative hotels, restaurants, and tourism‐oriented shops have stronger relations with firms of different but related sectors than with firms of the same sector and firms of different but unrelated sectors. This paper differs from previous research: (i) by bringing a tourism dimension to evolutionary economic geography literature and (ii) by employing a quantitative method of analysis (correspondence and chi‐square) based on a firm‐level survey. The findings show a significant difference in the relationship between company innovations and the two proxies for related variety, unrelated variety and intra‐industry relations, namely investment behaviour and recruitment of personnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online social networks (OSN) are major platforms of ICT-enabled communication, supporting place-independent social life. However, recent findings suggest that the geographical location of users strongly affects network topology. Therefore, OSNs may be simultaneously related to locations and also unlocked from offline geographies. Our paper addresses this dual-faced phenomenon, analysing the location-specific effect on OSN diffusion and OSN usage. Findings on iWiW (International Who Is Who), the leading OSN in Hungary in the 2000s with more than 4 million users, suggest that the rate of users (proxy for OSN diffusion) is positively associated with the geographical proximity of Budapest, the foremost urban centre in the country. On the contrary, the average number of connections (proxy for OSN usage) is independent of the geographical proximity of the capital, and it is even higher in peripheral regions when controlling for other offline factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shapes and identifies the varieties and dynamics of service economies in the EU 25. By adopting a neo-Schumpeterian and evolutionary approach it contributes to enrich previous research dealing with national disparities from the perspective of services economic structures. Communalities across countries and time are detected and discussed at different levels of analysis. A wide set of models across the European region is found from an aggregated perspective. Moreover, the paper analyses the key dimensions explaining the different service models at sectoral level: structural change, knowledge and innovation, internationalisation and competition restrictions. The main result shows that structural composition of countries plays a prominent role, while heterogeneity is driven by dissimilarities in knowledge bases and innovative efforts across Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the innovation and development literature, natural resources ( NR) are generally viewed as a curse for developing nations and NR-based industries as having little potential to innovate and drive long-term growth. This has led policy and development experts to opt for strategies to induce a shift in the pattern of specialization towards other sectors. This paper proposes a different approach. By exploring recent evidence from the Argentinean agricultural sector and the mining industry in Chile, it points to the window of opportunity that NR industries offer as a platform to develop knowledge intensive industries with which to support economic development in resource-endowed countries. The lessons drawn from these findings suggest that development strategies can also promote more innovative knowledge intensive NR-based industries rather than moving away from them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper elaborates on the concept of ‘knowledge economy’ as a prelude to demonstrating its incidence at regional and sub-regional levels in the UK, EU and Israel. The paper shows consistencies in the incidence of knowledge economies across the countries and georegion. This is a good test of the basic methodology, which is simple, and suggests its underlying theory is robust for distinctive spaces and times. It should thus contribute to standard methodology in academic and policy environments. The future economy will be characterised by more knowledge-intensive activities, and as shown in the paper, will be a highly disequilibriated one in spatial terms. Consequently the need for counter-measures is growing in order to continuously follow up and to take the needed actions in lagging regions. This is an acute challenge for future policy, namely to correct market failure in the knowledge economy for peripheral and otherwise deprived areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the spatial concentration patterns of innovation in science-based industries in the Netherlands. Using patents as an indicator for innovation we show that science-based industries have a relatively high level of spatial concentration compared to other technologies. In order to understand spatial patterns of innovation, insights into specific spatial and market characteristics of these technologies appears necessary. This is illustrated by the large influence of the Royal Philips Electronics NV on the spatial pattern of innovation in the Netherlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of aquaculture in the fishery sector is increasing. The growth of aquaculture complements the stagnant growth of extractive fisheries. Many countries are now entering this emerging economic activity. This positive feature has some serious drawbacks when the country has no local institutions to ensure the environmental sustainability of aquaculture. The Chilean salmon farming industry has grown dramatically since the mid-1980s to become the leading exporter of farmed salmon after Norway. The sector, however, suffered decline due to the sanitary crisis in 2007. It is said that this crisis was caused by overexploitation and overconcentration of fish farms. This paper tries to explain the mechanisms of the sanitary crisis - a 'tragedy of the commons' - by paying attention to the role of endogenous factors such as local knowledge, capacity building, local ecological conditions and the emergence of local institutions, focusing on the case of salmon farming in Chile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's spectacular economic growth has been spatially uneven, with much development occurring in eastern coastal areas. In particular, three metropolitan 'super-regions' have become China's most competitive knowledge-based economies, consisting of the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Bohai Gulf Region. This paper benchmarks the competitiveness of these regions, with a view to exploring which region is best positioned to become the most dominant knowledge-based economy over time. Through the theoretical lens of dynamic comparative advantage, it is shown that each region has hugely increased its competitiveness through improvements in the capacity to absorb and diffuse knowledge. It is further shown that due to multi-dimensional advantages the Yangtze River Delta, incorporating the Shanghai metropolis, is best positioned to become the dominant hub of China's future knowledge economy. It is concluded that China's leading regions will require further economic policy adjustments in order to secure their future competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses spatial patterns of innovation and partnership in innovation processes in the Netherlands, building on the Netherlands’ part of the Community Innovation Survey, conducted by Statistics Netherlands. Innovation is analysed from a system perspective, addressing both input factors (education levels of human resources and R&D), throughput factors (partnership with regionally, nationally and internationally based partners) and output factors (results in terms of the launching of new products on the market and/or the implementation of new processes in production). Our descriptive analyses at detailed spatial levels (four-digit postal code areas) provide indications that the relation between input factors and results of innovation processes is highly differentiated across regions. Furthermore, international connectivity seems to be strongly connected to the results of innovation processes, whereas the relation between regional clustering and innovative output appears rather weak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses spatial patterns of innovation and partnership in innovation processes in the Netherlands, building on the Netherlands’ part of the Community Innovation Survey, conducted by Statistics Netherlands. Innovation is analysed from a system perspective, addressing both input factors (education levels of human resources and R&D), throughput factors (partnership with regionally, nationally and internationally based partners) and output factors (results in terms of the launching of new products on the market and/or the implementation of new processes in production). Our descriptive analyses at detailed spatial levels (four-digit postal code areas) provide indications that the relation between input factors and results of innovation processes is highly differentiated across regions. Furthermore, international connectivity seems to be strongly connected to the results of innovation processes, whereas the relation between regional clustering and innovative output appears rather weak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This exploratory study investigates the effect of different cultural dimensions on different innovation indicators covering as many EU countries and neighbouring countries as possible. The measures of cultural dimensions were composed on the basis of the EVS/WVS data with the help of confirmatory factor analysis. Correlation, regression, graphical and cluster analyses were used. It was confirmed that innovation processes are strongly reliant on culture: power distance, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity turned out to be negatively and individualism positively related to innovation performance. The final innovation performance may develop on the basis of the combined effect of the four cultural dimensions that may or may not balance each other in a particular country. Hence, the Culture Index was calculated on the basis of the four cultural dimensions and it appeared to explain the differences in innovation performance between different countries quite well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extant literature suggests that a mutual dependency exists between head office location and the location of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) in major cities and capital regions. This is often referred to as a joint head-office–corporate-service complex. However, few studies have looked into the functioning and outcomes of these complexes. How concentrated are KIBS and head offices in major cities? How important is geographical proximity in the knowledge interaction between head offices and KIBS? What are the actual outcomes of head office–KIBS relationships, especially as far as innovation is concerned? These issues are discussed by using empirical evidence from Norway. The empirical results indicate that geographical proximity in itself is neither a sufficient nor a necessary condition for successful relations between KIBS and head offices in cities. However, agglomeration in city regions can provide positive externalities for both parties. Other types of proximity, such as social and cognitive proximity, also play a vital role in the outcome of KIBS-client relations. There is therefore a certain degree of heterogeneity, but not all projects lead to profound learning and innovation in the actors in this complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This study uses a variety of indicators such as patent grants, new product sales and R&D spending to examine the spatial patterns of industrial innovation in China during the 1990s. It is found that industrial innovation in China has been concentrated in the coastal areas, and the spatial concentration has been increasing in the 1990s, which is contrary to what Sun (2000) found on the patterns of all patent applications in 1985 to 1995. The study also reveals that large and medium-sized enterprises in China have experienced a switch in their modes of innovative behaviours in the late 1990s: from more spending on imported technologies to more in-house R&D; though expenditure on absorbing imported technologies has been marginal. Finally, enterprises are not well integrated with independent R&D institutes regarding their R&D efforts, which indicates that the national innovation system in China is still fragmented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]