New Regional Industrial Path Development: Entrepreneurs, Knowledge Exchange and Regional Contexts
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New Regional Industrial Path Development: Entrepreneurs, Knowledge Exchange and Regional Contexts Jan Ole Rypestøl New Regional Industrial Path Development: Entrepreneurs, Knowledge Exchange, and Regional Contexts Doctoral Dissertation for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) University of Agder School of Business and Law 2018 This study was made possible by generous financial support from: Sørlandets Kompetansefond and Aust-Agder Utviklings- og Kompetansefond Doctoral Dissertations at the University of Agder 191 ISSN: 1504-9272 ISBN: 978-82-7117-890-1 Jan Ole Rypestøl, 2018 Printed by Wittusen & Jensen Oslo Abstract In recent years, new regional industrial path development has become more important than ever before due to increased competition fuelled by digitalisation and an intensifying globalisation. One way for regions to respond to this increasing global competition is to promote processes that can transform and renew regional industries, as well as processes that can create new industries within regional boundaries. Such processes of change are vital because, if there is no industrial dynamism, regional industries will eventually be outpaced by competitors and the region will face augmented economic challenges. As the issues related to regional industrial change are of such importance, economic geographers have increasingly turned their research attention towards the issue of regional industrial development. Such processes of industrial change have been identified in the relevant literature as evolutionary and path dependent, and it has also been found that processes of regional industrial development unfold within regional innovation systems (RISs). Further, the literature found that such regional innovation systems vary in their number and diversity of actors as well as in their institutional arrangements, and argued that such regional differences will affect the ability of regions to foster and promote industrial renewal and new path creation. However, contemporary research has met some critique. One important criticism refers to the research as being overly focused on systemic factors and less observant of the actors contributing to regional industrial change. Thus, we know relatively little about who the key actors in new regional industrial path development processes are, their distribution of roles, and with whom they interact and share knowledge for innovation. Further, we lack knowledge of how contextual factors influence such processes. This doctoral thesis addresses these shortcomings and presents novel research that aims to shed new light on the process of new regional industrial path development. The main research question addressed in the thesis is the following: Which key actors and mechanisms influence new industrial path development in various regional settings? I Concerning actors, the thesis researches the role of new entrepreneurial firms and suggests a link between innovation radicalism and the ambition of the new entrepreneurial firm on the one hand and the expected effect of the entrepreneurial action to regional industrial development, on the other hand. Further, the thesis introduces the notion of system-level entrepreneurs and assesses the importance of these entrepreneurs in relation to foster industrial development. Concerning the mechanisms, the thesis identifies knowledge sourcing as a key mechanism in new regional industrial path development. It contends that the nature and geography of knowledge sourcing vary and that the expected outcomes of new regional industrial path development should be analysed in relation to the nature of the process and the actors involved in knowledge sharing activities. Finally, when addressing the role of geography, the thesis finds that new industrial path development processes vary in space, because regions are differently conditioned to foster innovativeness and knowledge sourcing activities. The research design of the thesis is inspired by critical realism, and the empirical evidence draws from a rich selection of triangulations. The empirical cases are drawn from several regional innovation systems in Norway. This doctoral thesis includes four articles and this ‘kappa’ (capstone paper). The four included articles are independent contributions that have either been published in peer- reviewed journals or are in the review phase. The articles research new regional industrial path development in various ways. The purpose of the kappa is to outline the overall theoretical and analytical framework as well as the methodological foundation that has informed the presented research. Furthermore, the kappa presents the overall findings and draw conclusions. Keywords: economic geography, new regional industrial path development, firm-level entrepreneurs, system-level entrepreneurs, knowledge sourcing, entrepreneurial discovery processes, knowledge networks, regional innovation systems II Table of contents Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... I Table of contents ...................................................................................................................... III Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... V List of publications ................................................................................................................... VI List of acronyms ...................................................................................................................... VII List of tables and figures ....................................................................................................... VIII 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.1. Structure of the thesis ...................................................................................................... 2 1.2. Aim and contribution of the thesis .................................................................................. 2 1.3. Overview of the articles .................................................................................................. 6 2. Theoretical insight ................................................................................................................ 11 2.0. Definitions ..................................................................................................................... 11 2.1. The knowledge concept and its geography ................................................................... 12 2.1.1. Theoretical roots ..................................................................................................... 13 2.1.2. Knowledge and innovation ..................................................................................... 14 2.1.3. The proximity dimension of knowledge ................................................................ 17 2.1.4. Absorptive capacity ................................................................................................ 19 2.1.5. Related and unrelated varieties of knowledge ........................................................ 20 2.1.6. Knowledge sourcing mechanisms .......................................................................... 20 2.1.7. Remaining questions .............................................................................................. 21 2.1.8. How this thesis addresses the remaining questions identified ............................... 22 2.2. Regional innovation systems ......................................................................................... 23 2.2.1. Theoretical roots ..................................................................................................... 23 2.2.2. The regional innovation system approach .............................................................. 24 2.2.3. Entrepreneurial ecosystems and regional systems of entrepreneurship ................. 30 2.2.4. The systemic approach of this thesis ...................................................................... 32 2.2.5. Knowledge sharing in various regional settings .................................................... 33 2.2.6. Remaining questions .............................................................................................. 36 2.2.7. How this thesis addresses the remaining questions identified ............................... 37 2.3. Regional entrepreneurial discoveries ............................................................................ 39 2.3.1. Theoretical roots ..................................................................................................... 39 2.3.2. Entrepreneurial discovery as a spontaneous process .............................................. 40 2.3.3. Entrepreneurial discovery as a planned process ..................................................... 43 2.3.4. The process following a successful discovery ....................................................... 44 2.3.5. Remaining questions .............................................................................................. 46 2.3.6. How this thesis addresses the remaining questions identified ............................... 46 2.4. Path dependent regional industrial development .......................................................... 47 2.4.1. Theoretical roots ....................................................................................................