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How does multi-scalar institutional change affect localized learning processes? A case study of the med-tech sector in Southern Sweden

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  • Markus Grillitsch
  • Josephine V Rekers

Abstract

Co-location alone is not sufficient to ensure efficient and effective interaction between economic agents. Also, institutions at multiple scales shape the behaviour of organizations and provide incentives for interaction. However, institutions, as well as the impact of institutions on economic agents, are not static, but rather change over time. In this paper we investigate this dynamic process: How does institutional change at different geographical scales affect localized learning processes? Using an intensive case study of the medical technology sector in Southern Sweden, we trace in detail how institutions at the supra-national, national and regional scale have changed over the past 15 years and how these have affected the opportunities for localized learning between firms and hospitals. Our case makes three contributions. First, it provides a detailed empirical example of the interdependencies between institutions at the supra-national, national and regional scales. Second, as institutions shape the behaviour of organizations, we demonstrate that institutional change introduced at the extra-regional scale can have profound consequences for the establishment of local innovation linkages – and thereby for the opportunities for localized learning. Third, this leads us to reconsider the ambitions of regional policies that aim to enhance localized learning.

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  • Markus Grillitsch & Josephine V Rekers, 2016. "How does multi-scalar institutional change affect localized learning processes? A case study of the med-tech sector in Southern Sweden," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(1), pages 154-171, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:48:y:2016:i:1:p:154-171
    DOI: 10.1177/0308518X15603986
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    Cited by:

    1. Hassink, Robert & Gong, Huiwen, 2017. "Sketching the Contours of an Integrative Paradigm of Economic Geography," Papers in Innovation Studies 2017/12, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    2. Grillitsch, Markus & Rekers, Josephine & Sotarauta, Markku, 2019. "Trinity of Change Agency: Connecting Agency and Structure in Studies of Regional Development," Papers in Innovation Studies 2019/12, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    3. Qin Ye, 2021. "The impact of knowledge depth and breadth on the geography of analytical industry technological networks: Evidence from China’s biotechnology industry," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(4), pages 2238-2255, December.
    4. Grillitsch, Markus & Trippl, Michaela, 2016. "Innovation Policies and New Regional Growth Paths: A place-based system failure framework," Papers in Innovation Studies 2016/26, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    5. Markus Grillitsch & Josephine Rekers & Franz Tödtling, 2019. "When drivers of clusters shift scale from local towards global: What remains for regional innovation policy?," PEGIS geo-disc-2019_03, Institute for Economic Geography and GIScience, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    6. Grillitsch, Markus, 2017. "Transformation Capacity of the Innovative Entrepreneur: On the interplay between social structure and agency," Papers in Innovation Studies 2017/2, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    7. Frank Crowley & Declan Jordan, 2022. "Do local start-ups and knowledge spillovers matter for firm-level R&D investment?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 59(5), pages 1085-1102, April.
    8. Alhusen, Harm & Bennat, Tatjana, 2019. "Innovation modes in SMEs: Mechanisms integrating STI-processes into DUI-mode learning and the role of regional innovation policy," ifh Working Papers 21/2019, Volkswirtschaftliches Institut für Mittelstand und Handwerk an der Universität Göttingen (ifh).
    9. Grillitsch, Markus & Martynovich, Mikhail & Dahl Fitjar, Rune & Haus-Reve, Silje, 2019. "Why bother about region-specific growth patterns and how to identify them?," Papers in Innovation Studies 2019/10, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Localized learning; institutions and institutional change; scale; innovation; regional development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B52 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Modern Monetary Theory;
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • L50 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - General
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy

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