IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/indinn/v19y2012i6p477-497.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Scientists as Midwives to Cluster Emergence: An Institutional Work Framework

Author

Listed:
  • Tiina Ritvala
  • Birgit Kleymann

Abstract

The question of how embedded actors can create institutions that support cluster emergence remains unsolved in the cluster and national innovation systems literature. The present paper extends the recent literature on institutional entrepreneurship and institutional work to solve this paradox of embedded agency in the context of science-based clusters. Building on a longitudinal single case study of a functional foods cluster in Finland, we present an institutional work framework for cluster formation. We argue that, in addition to ideational, material and bridging work, authentic leadership work is critical for cluster emergence. The results of the study highlight the opportunities that scientists have to act as midwives to cluster formation, but they also show that well-functioning clusters need a broader support base.

Suggested Citation

  • Tiina Ritvala & Birgit Kleymann, 2012. "Scientists as Midwives to Cluster Emergence: An Institutional Work Framework," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(6), pages 477-497, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:indinn:v:19:y:2012:i:6:p:477-497
    DOI: 10.1080/13662716.2012.718875
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/13662716.2012.718875
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/13662716.2012.718875?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 look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Markku Sotarauta, 2017. "An actor-centric bottom-up view of institutions: Combinatorial knowledge dynamics through the eyes of institutional entrepreneurs and institutional navigators," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(4), pages 584-599, June.
    2. Welter, Friederike & Smallbone, David, 2015. "Creative forces for entrepreneurship: The role of institutional change agents," Working Papers 01/15, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    3. Grumadaitė Kristina & Jucevičius Giedrius, 2017. "Preconditions for Emergence of Lithuanian Clusters: from Informal Cooperation to Its Legitimation," Management of Organizations: Systematic Research, Sciendo, vol. 77(1), pages 37-56, June.
    4. Markku Sotarauta & Nina Mustikkamäki, 2015. "Institutional Entrepreneurship, Power, and Knowledge in Innovation Systems: Institutionalization of Regenerative Medicine in Tampere, Finland," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 33(2), pages 342-357, April.
    5. Ooms, Ward & Ebbekink, Miranda, 2018. "In search of the sweet spot: The role of personal proximity in three Dutch clusters," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 48-60.
    6. Bastien Bernela & Marie Ferru & Marc-Hubert Depret, 2017. "When genesis shapes cluster life cycle? Applying mixed method on a French cluster case study," Working Papers halshs-01616929, HAL.
    7. Sotarauta, Markku, 2015. "The Challenge of Combinatorial Knowledge Dynamics to Study of Institutions, Towards an Actor-centric Bottom-up View of Institutions," Papers in Innovation Studies 2015/5, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    8. Kristina Grumadaitė & Giedrius Jucevičius, 2022. "Strategic Approaches to the Development of Complex Organisational Ecosystems: The Case of Lithuanian Clusters," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-13, November.
    9. Gökhan Önder & Cemil Ulukan, 2020. "Innovation and the network position of firms: the case of the Eskişehir–Bilecik–Kütahya ceramic cluster in Turkey," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 47(4), pages 589-612, December.

    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:taf:indinn:v:19:y:2012:i:6:p:477-497. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/CIAI20 .

    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.