IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jmgtgv/v6y2002i2p169-188.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

'A Far Friend is Worth More than a Good Neighbour': Proximity and Innovation in a Small Country

Author

Listed:
  • Sjoerd Beugelsdijk
  • Maarten Cornet

Abstract

This paper is about the relationship betweeninnovation and geography. Much of theliterature on regional economics and innovationsuggests that knowledge spillovers are boundedby distance. But distance is a relative conceptand how local is local? Based on a uniquedataset of 1510 Dutch firms we examine whetherinnovative activity (R&D expenditures) haslarger spillover effects on the development ofnew products for firms nearby versus those faraway. We also consider the impact of proximityto research oriented institutes. We do not findthat proximity promotes industrial knowledgespillovers between firms within theNetherlands. We do find indications thatdistance limits spillovers from universities oftechnology. Our analysis suggests that a farfriend may be worth more than a goodneighbour. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2002

Suggested Citation

  • Sjoerd Beugelsdijk & Maarten Cornet, 2002. "'A Far Friend is Worth More than a Good Neighbour': Proximity and Innovation in a Small Country," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 6(2), pages 169-188, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jmgtgv:v:6:y:2002:i:2:p:169-188
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1015775321949
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1023/A:1015775321949
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1023/A:1015775321949?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kelly, Morgan & Hageman, Anya, 1999. "Marshallian Externalities in Innovation," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 39-54, March.
    2. James D. Adams & Adam B. Jaffe, 1996. "Bounding the Effects of R&D: An Investigation Using Matched Establishment-Firm Data," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 27(4), pages 700-721, Winter.
    3. Egbert Wever & Erik Stam, 1999. "Clusters of High Technology SMEs: The Dutch Case," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(4), pages 391-400.
    4. Feldman, Maryann P. & Audretsch, David B., 1999. "Innovation in cities:: Science-based diversity, specialization and localized competition," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 409-429, February.
    5. James D. Adams, 2002. "Comparative localization of academic and industrial spillovers," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 2(3), pages 253-278, July.
    6. Alexander Kaufmann & Franz Todtling, 2000. "Systems of Innovation in Traditional Industrial Regions: The Case of Styria in a Comparative Perspective," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 29-40.
    7. Ottati, Gabi Dei, 1994. "Trust, Interlinking Transactions and Credit in the Industrial District," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 18(6), pages 529-546, December.
    8. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Issues in Assessing the Contribution of Research and Development to Productivity Growth," NBER Chapters, in: R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence, pages 17-45, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Ann Markusen, 1996. "Sticky Places in Slippery Space: A Typology of Industrial Districts," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 72(3), pages 293-313, July.
    10. Nooteboom, Bart, 1999. "Innovation, Learning and Industrial Organisation," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 23(2), pages 127-150, March.
    11. Eli Bekman & John Bound & Stephen Machin, 1998. "Implications of Skill-Biased Technological Change: International Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(4), pages 1245-1279.
    12. Romer, Paul M, 1990. "Endogenous Technological Change," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 71-102, October.
    13. Mia Gray & Elyse Golob & Ann Markusen, 1996. "Big Firms, Long Arms, Wide Shoulders: The 'Hub-and-Spoke' Industrial District in the Seattle Region," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(7), pages 651-666.
    14. Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg & Rebecca Henderson, 1993. "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 577-598.
    15. Clive Lawson & Edward Lorenz, 1999. "Collective Learning, Tacit Knowledge and Regional Innovative Capacity," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(4), pages 305-317.
    16. Funke, Michael & Niebuhr, Annekatrin, 2000. "Spatial R&D spillovers and economic growth: Evidence from West Germany," HWWA Discussion Papers 98, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWA).
    17. Cooke, Philip & Gomez Uranga, Mikel & Etxebarria, Goio, 1997. "Regional innovation systems: Institutional and organisational dimensions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4-5), pages 475-491, December.
    18. Elsie L. Echeverri-Carroll & William Brennan, 1999. "Are Innovation Networks Bounded by Proximity?," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Manfred M. Fischer & Luis Suarez-Villa & Michael Steiner (ed.), Innovation, Networks and Localities, chapter 3, pages 28-49, Springer.
    19. J. Vernon Henderson, Zmarak Shalizi, and Anthony J. Venables, 2001. "Geography and development," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 81-105, January.
    20. Carrincazeaux, Christophe & Lung, Yannick & Rallet, Alain, 2001. "Proximity and localisation of corporate R&D activities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 777-789, May.
    21. Michael Funke & Annekatrin Niebuhr, 2000. "Regional Geographic R&D Spillovers and Economic Growth," Quantitative Macroeconomics Working Papers 20007, Hamburg University, Department of Economics.
    22. Andr Torre Shaw & Jean-Pierre Gilly, 2000. "On the Analytical Dimension of Proximity Dynamics," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(2), pages 169-180.
    23. Gert–Jan Hospers & Sjoerd Beugelsdijk, 2002. "Regional Cluster Policies: Learning by Comparing?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 381-402, August.
    24. Audretsch, David B & Feldman, Maryann P, 1996. "R&D Spillovers and the Geography of Innovation and Production," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 630-640, June.
    25. Luc Anselin & Attila Varga & Zoltan Acs, 2008. "Local Geographic Spillovers Between University Research and High Technology Innovations," Chapters, in: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, chapter 9, pages 95-121, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    26. Manfred M. Fischer & Luis Suarez-Villa & Michael Steiner (ed.), 1999. "Innovation, Networks and Localities," Advances in Spatial Science, Springer, number 978-3-642-58524-1.
    27. Jaffe, Adam B, 1989. "Real Effects of Academic Research," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(5), pages 957-970, December.
    28. Alessia Sammarra & Lucio Biggiero, 2001. "Identity and Identification in Industrial Districts," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 5(1), pages 61-82, March.
    29. Bart Nooteboom, 2000. "Learning by Interaction: Absorptive Capacity, Cognitive Distance and Governance," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 4(1), pages 69-92, March.
    30. Mansfield, Edwin & Lee, Jeong-Yeon, 1996. "The modern university: contributor to industrial innovation and recipient of industrial R&D support," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(7), pages 1047-1058, October.
    31. Kevin Morgan, 1997. "The Learning Region: Institutions, Innovation and Regional Renewal," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(5), pages 491-503.
    32. Oerlemans, L.A.G. & Meeus, M.T.H. & Boekema, F.W.M., 2001. "On spatial embeddedness of innovation networks : An exploration of the proximity effect," Other publications TiSEM 05a1ad7e-a27e-4ef0-85c5-4, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    33. Christian Lechner & Michael Dowling, 1999. "The Evolution of Industrial Districts and Regional Networks: The Case of the Biotechnology Region Munich/Martinsried," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 3(4), pages 309-338, December.
    34. Rolf Sternberg, 1999. "Innovative Linkages and Proximity: Empirical Results from Recent Surveys of Small and Medium Sized Firms in German Regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(6), pages 529-540.
    35. Paul M. Romer, 1994. "The Origins of Endogenous Growth," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(1), pages 3-22, Winter.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Joshua Drucker & Harvey Goldstein, 2007. "Assessing the Regional Economic Development Impacts of Universities: A Review of Current Approaches," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 30(1), pages 20-46, January.
    2. Jiabin han & Ziyi Chen & Muhammad Zeeshan & Alam Rehman & Irfan Ullah & Suleman Sarwar, 2024. "The influence of civilized city honorary title on the urban innovation capacity," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(8), pages 20841-20867, August.
    3. Paulo Santos & Aurora A.C. Teixeira & Ana Brochado, 2006. "The ‘de-territorialisation of closeness’ - a typology of international successful R&D projects involving cultural and geographic proximity," FEP Working Papers 222, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    4. Jun Koo & Tae‐Eun Kim, 2009. "When R&D matters for regional growth: A tripod approach," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 88(4), pages 825-840, November.
    5. Jeffrey Yi-Lin Forrest & Zaiwu Gong, 2019. "Factors and Steps for Successful Transition from a State of Making to One of Innovating," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-12, August.
    6. Jorge Luis Juliao Rossi & Fernando Barrios Aguirre & Jana Schmutzler & Iván Darío Sánchez Manchola, 2013. "Relación entre la estrategia de innovación de la firma y su decisión de patentar: evidencia de empresas pertenecientes al sector manufacturero colombiano," Estudios Gerenciales, Universidad Icesi, September.
    7. Aurora Teixeira & Li Shu, 2012. "The level of human capital in innovative firms located in China. Is foreign capital relevant?," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 343-360.
    8. Basit Shoaib Abdul & Kuhn Thomas & Ahmed Mumtaz, 2018. "The Effect of Government Subsidy on Non-Technological Innovation and Firm Performance in the Service Sector: Evidence from Germany," Business Systems Research, Sciendo, vol. 9(1), pages 118-137, March.
    9. Natalie Djodat & Dodo Knyphausen-Aufseß, 2017. "Revisiting Ghoshal and Bartlett’s Theory of the Multinational Corporation as an Interorganizational Network," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 349-378, June.
    10. Harvey Goldstein & Joshua Drucker, 2006. "The Economic Development Impacts of Universities on Regions: Do Size and Distance Matter?," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 20(1), pages 22-43, February.
    11. Mowery, David C. & Ziedonis, Arvids A., 2015. "Markets versus spillovers in outflows of university research," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 50-66.
    12. Zhang, Lin & Sun, Mengting & Peng, Yujie & Zhao, Wenjing & Chen, Lixin & Huang, Ying, 2022. "How public investment fuels innovation: Clues from government-subsidized USPTO patents," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3).
    13. P.H. van Dongen, 2011. "The Role and Contribution of Intellectual Property Rights in the Process of Spillover of Knowledge, Knowledge Valorization and Regional Economic Development," Chapters, in: Emiel F.M. Wubben (ed.), Institutions and Regulation for Economic Growth?, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Chen Feng & Qing‐Yuan Hu & Yan‐Kun Kang & Cheng‐Yao Li & Yao Zhang, 2023. "The effects of Tech‐Fin on corporate innovation: Evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(4), pages 3739-3762, December.
    15. Sunyoung Park, 2019. "Identification of Overall Innovation Behavior by Using a Decision Tree: The Case of a Korean Manufacturer," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-54, November.
    16. Jakob Eder & Michaela Trippl, 2019. "Innovation in the periphery: compensation and exploitation strategies," PEGIS geo-disc-2019_07, Institute for Economic Geography and GIScience, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    17. Hong, Jin & Feng, Bing & Wu, Yanrui & Wang, Liangbing, 2016. "Do government grants promote innovation efficiency in China's high-tech industries?," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 57, pages 4-13.
    18. Massimo Colombo & Luca Grilli, 2007. "Funding Gaps? Access To Bank Loans By High-Tech Start-Ups," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 25-46, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Beugelsdijk, S. & Cornet, M., 2001. "How far do They Reach? The Localization of Industrial and Academic Knowledge Spillovers in the Netherlands," Other publications TiSEM 303b1186-e227-43ce-a118-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    2. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 349-404, Elsevier.
    3. repec:bof:bofrdp:urn:nbn:fi:bof-201512111472 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. repec:zbw:bofrdp:urn:nbn:fi:bof-201512111472 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 349-404, Elsevier.
    6. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2015_027 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Haifeng Qian, 2018. "Knowledge-Based Regional Economic Development: A Synthetic Review of Knowledge Spillovers, Entrepreneurship, and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 32(2), pages 163-176, May.
    8. Hamidi, Shima & Zandiatashbar, Ahoura & Bonakdar, Ahmad, 2019. "The relationship between regional compactness and regional innovation capacity (RIC): Empirical evidence from a national study," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 394-402.
    9. Dongwoo Kang & Sandy Dall’erba, 2016. "Exploring the spatially varying innovation capacity of the US counties in the framework of Griliches’ knowledge production function: a mixed GWR approach," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 125-157, April.
    10. Zoltán J. Ács & Pontus Braunerhjelm & David B. Audretsch & Bo Carlsson, 2015. "The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship," Chapters, in: Global Entrepreneurship, Institutions and Incentives, chapter 7, pages 129-144, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Christoph Grimpe & Roberto Patuelli, 2011. "Regional knowledge production in nanomaterials: a spatial filtering approach," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 46(3), pages 519-541, June.
    12. Sleuwaegen, Leo & Boiardi, Priscilla, 2014. "Creativity and regional innovation: Evidence from EU regions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(9), pages 1508-1522.
    13. Rakas, Marija & Hain, Daniel S., 2019. "The state of innovation system research: What happens beneath the surface?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.
    14. Autant-Bernard, Corinne & Fadairo, Muriel & Massard, Nadine, 2013. "Knowledge diffusion and innovation policies within the European regions: Challenges based on recent empirical evidence," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 196-210.
    15. Cabrer-Borras, Bernardi & Serrano-Domingo, Guadalupe, 2007. "Innovation and R&D spillover effects in Spanish regions: A spatial approach," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 1357-1371, November.
    16. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Marco Di Cataldo, 2015. "Quality of government and innovative performance in the regions of Europe," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(4), pages 673-706.
    17. Thomas Doring & Jan Schnellenbach, 2006. "What do we know about geographical knowledge spillovers and regional growth?: A survey of the literature," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(3), pages 375-395.
    18. Andrea Bonaccorsi & Cinzia Daraio, 2013. "Knowledge spillover effects at the sub-regional level. Theory and estimation," DIAG Technical Reports 2013-13, Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Universita' degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza".
    19. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Crescenzi, Riccardo, 2012. "R&D, Socio-Economic Conditions and Regional Innovation in the United States," CEPR Discussion Papers 9265, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    20. Castellacci, Fulvio, 2008. "Innovation and the competitiveness of industries: comparing the mainstream and the evolutionary approaches," MPRA Paper 27523, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Jeremy R. L. Howells, 2002. "Tacit Knowledge, Innovation and Economic Geography," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 39(5-6), pages 871-884, May.
    22. P.H. van Dongen, 2011. "The Role and Contribution of Intellectual Property Rights in the Process of Spillover of Knowledge, Knowledge Valorization and Regional Economic Development," Chapters, in: Emiel F.M. Wubben (ed.), Institutions and Regulation for Economic Growth?, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    23. Martin Andersson & Olof Ejermo, 2005. "How does accessibility to knowledge sources affect the innovativeness of corporations?—evidence from Sweden," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 39(4), pages 741-765, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jmgtgv:v:6:y:2002:i:2:p:169-188. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.