IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/h/elg/eechap/15784_11.html
   My bibliography  Save this book chapter

A network theory of regional competitiveness: innovation, entrepreneurship and growth

In: Handbook of Regions and Competitiveness

Author

Listed:
  • Robert Huggins
  • Piers Thompson

Abstract

Notions and theories of regional competitiveness are broadly cognate with theories of endogenous growth, which focuses on the role of knowledge as a key driver of productivity and economic growth, and departs from the traditional emphasis on the accumulation of physical capital. However, despite contemporary theoretical developments in the field of economic growth, there is a need to further widen our conception of the investment resources underpinning economic growth. Indeed, it is suggested that perhaps the most interesting implications of endogenous growth theory relate to the impact of the spatial organization of regions on flows of knowledge. In particular, it is considered that differences in regional growth can potentially be explained by differences in the conditions for creating, accumulating and _ crucially _ transmitting knowledge. The aim of this chapter is to propose that the inter-organizational networks underpinning the flow of knowledge within and across regions are a key capital input within regional growth and competitiveness processes. The chapter proposes that the concept of ‘network capital’ _ in the form of investments in calculative relations through which organizations gain access to knowledge to enhance expected economic returns _ should be incorporated into regional growth models. The chapter outlines the case and potential methods for integrating network perspectives into theories of regional competitiveness and growth, with the particular importance of the network capital built by entrepreneurs and their firms explored. The case of Silicon Valley provides some empirical insights which are then used to draw implications for regional economic development policy and future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Huggins & Piers Thompson, 2017. "A network theory of regional competitiveness: innovation, entrepreneurship and growth," Chapters, in: Robert Huggins & Piers Thompson (ed.), Handbook of Regions and Competitiveness, chapter 11, pages 245-268, Edward Elgar Publishing.
  • Handle: RePEc:elg:eechap:15784_11
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.elgaronline.com/view/9781783475001.00017.xml
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Peter Mayerhofer, 2022. "Vorarlbergs Wirtschaft im europäischen Konkurrenzumfeld. Bericht zur internationalen Wettbewerbsfähigkeit 2022," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 69424.
    2. Anna Szopa, 2017. "The Role of Local and Regional Factors in the Development of Creative Clusters (Lokalne determinanty rozwoju klastrow przemyslow kreatywnych)," Research Reports, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management, vol. 1(23), pages 75-82.

    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:elg:eechap:15784_11. 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: Darrel McCalla (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.e-elgar.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.