IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v41y2004i5-6p1157-1174.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Knowledge-based Clusters and Urban Location: The Clustering of Software Consultancy in Oslo

Author

Listed:
  • Arne Isaksen

    (Agder University College, Grooseveien 36, 4876 Grimstad, Norway and with the STEP Group, Hammersborg torg 3, 0179 Oslo, Norway, Arne.Isaksen@hia.no)

Abstract

The paper examines the reasons for the clustering of Norwegian software firms in Oslo. The analysis focuses on how software firms perform individual activities and how they interact with other players in performing the activities. The clustering of software firms in Oslo rests first of all on the need for very close interaction between consulting companies and important customers, and among software consulting companies themselves. The fact is that consulting activity is project-based and involves lots of coalition-building and face-to-face contact which is facilitated when players co-locate. Demand-side factors are important in explaining the concentration of software companies in Oslo, while important supply-side factors are the possibilities of meeting persons in other software firms and the gathering of information in formal and informal settings.

Suggested Citation

  • Arne Isaksen, 2004. "Knowledge-based Clusters and Urban Location: The Clustering of Software Consultancy in Oslo," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 41(5-6), pages 1157-1174, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:41:y:2004:i:5-6:p:1157-1174
    DOI: 10.1080/00420980410001675797
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/00420980410001675797
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00420980410001675797?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gernot Grabher, 2002. "The Project Ecology of Advertising: Tasks, Talents and Teams," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(3), pages 245-262.
    2. Zoltan J. Acs & Henri L. F. Groot & Peter Nijkamp (ed.), 2002. "The Emergence of the Knowledge Economy," Advances in Spatial Science, Springer, number 978-3-540-24823-1, February.
    3. Glaeser, Edward L & Hedi D. Kallal & Jose A. Scheinkman & Andrei Shleifer, 1992. "Growth in Cities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(6), pages 1126-1152, December.
      • Edward L. Glaeser & Hedi D. Kallal & Jose A. Scheinkman & Andrei Shleifer, 1991. "Growth in Cities," NBER Working Papers 3787, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
      • Glaeser, Edward Ludwig & Kallal, Hedi D. & Scheinkman, Jose A. & Shleifer, Andrei, 1992. "Growth in Cities," Scholarly Articles 3451309, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    4. Arne Isaksen & Heidi Wiig Aslesen, 2001. "Oslo: In What Way an Innovative City?," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(7), pages 871-887, October.
    5. Edward E Leamer & Michael Storper, 2001. "The Economic Geography of the Internet Age," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 32(4), pages 641-665, December.
    6. Gernot Grabher, 2002. "Cool Projects, Boring Institutions: Temporary Collaboration in Social Context," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(3), pages 205-214.
    7. Roberto Camagni & Roberta Capello, 2002. "Milieux Innovateurs and Collective Learning: From Concepts to Measurement," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Zoltan J. Acs & Henri L. F. Groot & Peter Nijkamp (ed.), The Emergence of the Knowledge Economy, chapter 2, pages 15-45, Springer.
    8. Gann, David M. & Salter, Ammon J., 2000. "Innovation in project-based, service-enhanced firms: the construction of complex products and systems," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(7-8), pages 955-972, August.
    9. Harald Bathelt & Andersand Malmberg & Peter Maskell, 2002. "Clusters and Knowledge Local Buzz, Global Pipelines and the Process of Knowledge Creation," DRUID Working Papers 02-12, DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies.
    10. Mona Domaas Wibe, Rajneesh Narula, 2002. "Interactive learning and non-globalisation: knowledge creation by Norwegian software firms," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 2(2/3), pages 224-245.
    11. Bengt-ake Lundvall & Bjorn Johnson, 1994. "The Learning Economy," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(2), pages 23-42.
    12. Zoltan J. Acs & Henri L. F. Groot & Peter Nijkamp, 2002. "Knowledge, Innovation and Regional Development," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Zoltan J. Acs & Henri L. F. Groot & Peter Nijkamp (ed.), The Emergence of the Knowledge Economy, chapter 1, pages 1-14, Springer.
    13. Barlow, James, 2000. "Innovation and learning in complex offshore construction projects," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(7-8), pages 973-989, August.
    14. Jean Gadrey & Faïz Gallouj (ed.), 2002. "Productivity, Innovation and Knowledge in Services," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2690.
    15. Frank Moulaert & Farid Sekia, 2003. "Territorial Innovation Models: A Critical Survey," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(3), pages 289-302.
    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. Heidi Wiig Aslesen & Roman Martin & Stefania Sardo, 2019. "The virtual is reality! On physical and virtual space in software firms’ knowledge formation," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(9-10), pages 669-682, October.
    2. Michaela Trippl & Franz Tödtling & Lukas Lengauer, 2007. "The Vienna software cluster: Local buzz without global pipelines?," SRE-Disc sre-disc-2007_07, Institute for Multilevel Governance and Development, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    3. Kristoffer Moeller, 2018. "Culturally clustered or in the cloud? How amenities drive firm location decision in Berlin," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(4), pages 728-758, September.
    4. Kristoffer Moeller, 2013. "Culturally clustered or in the cloud? Location of internet start-ups in Berlin," ERSA conference papers ersa13p455, European Regional Science Association.
    5. Haining Jiang & Wei Xu & Wenzhong Zhang, 2018. "Transportation Accessibility and Location Choice of Japanese-Funded Electronic Information Manufacturing Firms in Shanghai," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-21, February.
    6. Andrea Caragliu & Camilla Lenzi & Rudolf Pástor & Miroslav Šipikal & Štefan Rehák, 2013. "Knowledge creation and knowledge acquisition in the software industry in Slovakia: the case study of Košice region," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(4), pages 401-415, November.
    7. Seungil Yum, 2019. "The interaction between knowledge-intensive business services and urban economy," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 63(1), pages 53-83, August.
    8. Michaela Trippl & Franz Tödtling & Lukas Lengauer, 2009. "Knowledge Sourcing Beyond Buzz and Pipelines: Evidence from the Vienna Software Sector," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 85(4), pages 443-462, October.
    9. Honggang Qi & Shenghe Liu & Wei Qi & Zhen Liu, 2019. "Geographical Concentration of Knowledge- and Technology-Intensive Industries and City Innovation in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-20, September.

    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. Heidi Wiig Aslesen & Arne Isaksen & Lasse Sigbjørn Stambøl, 2004. "KIBS and industrial development of cities.Labour mobility, innovation and client interaction," ERSA conference papers ersa04p475, European Regional Science Association.
    2. Iammarino, Simona & McCann, Philip, 2006. "The structure and evolution of industrial clusters: Transactions, technology and knowledge spillovers," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1018-1036, September.
    3. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Riccardo Crescenzi, 2008. "Mountains in a flat world: why proximity still matters for the location of economic activity," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 1(3), pages 371-388.
    4. Hugues Jeannerat & Leila Kebir, 2012. "Mobility of Knowledge. Knowledge resources and markets: What territorial economic systems ?," GRET Publications and Working Papers 02-12, GRET Group of Research in Territorial Economy, University of Neuchâtel.
    5. Feldman, Maryann P. & Kogler, Dieter F., 2010. "Stylized Facts in the Geography of Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 381-410, Elsevier.
    6. Roberto Camagni, 2002. "On the Concept of Territorial Competitiveness: Sound or Misleading?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 39(13), pages 2395-2411, December.
    7. Charlie Karlsson, 2011. "Clusters, Networks and Creativity," Chapters, in: David Emanuel Andersson & Åke E. Andersson & Charlotta Mellander (ed.), Handbook of Creative Cities, chapter 5, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Peter B. Doeringer & Pacey Foster & Stephan Manning & David Terkla, 2013. "Project-based industries and craft-like production: structure, location and performance," Chapters, in: Frank Giarratani & Geoffrey J.D. Hewings & Philip McCann (ed.), Handbook of Industry Studies and Economic Geography, chapter 4, pages 99-151, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Max-Peter Menzel, 2008. "Dynamic Proximities – Changing Relations by Creating and Bridging Distances," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 0816, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Oct 2008.
    10. Lars Frederiksen & Silvia Rita Sedita, 2005. "Embodied Knowledge Transfer Comparing inter-firm labor mobility in the music industry and manufacturing industries," DRUID Working Papers 05-14, DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies.
    11. Cacciatori, Eugenia, 2008. "Memory objects in project environments: Storing, retrieving and adapting learning in project-based firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 1591-1601, October.
    12. Allan Watson & Jonathan V Beaverstock, 2016. "Transnational freelancing: Ephemeral creative projects and mobility in the music recording industry," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(7), pages 1428-1446, July.
    13. Ibert, Oliver, 2004. "Projects and firms as discordant complements: organisational learning in the Munich software ecology," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 1529-1546, December.
    14. Su-Hyun Berg, 2018. "Local Buzz, Global Pipelines and Hallyu: The Case of the Film and TV Industry in South Korea," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 4(1), pages 33-52, January.
    15. Sverre Herstad & Øyvind Pålshaugen & Bernd Ebersberger, 2011. "Industrial Innovation Collaboration in a Capital Region Context," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 2(4), pages 507-532, December.
    16. Müller, Felix C. & Brinks, Verena & Ibert, Oliver & Schmidt, Suntje, 2015. "Open Region: Leitbild für eine regionale Innovationspolitik der Schaffung und Nutzung von Gelegenheiten," IRS Working Papers 53, Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS).
    17. Mark Lorenzen & Lars Frederiksen, 2005. "On the Economics of Innovation Projects Product Experimentation in the Music Industry," DRUID Working Papers 05-23, DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies.
    18. Scaringella, Laurent & Radziwon, Agnieszka, 2018. "Innovation, entrepreneurial, knowledge, and business ecosystems: Old wine in new bottles?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 59-87.
    19. Roberta Capello & Andrea Caragliu & Peter Nijkamp, 2009. "Territorial Capital and Regional Growth: Increasing Returns in Cognitive Knowledge Use," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 09-059/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    20. Manning, Stephan, 2017. "The rise of project network organizations: Building core teams and flexible partner pools for interorganizational projects," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1399-1415.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:sae:urbstu:v:41:y:2004:i:5-6:p:1157-1174. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    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.