IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/inrsre/v46y2023i4p482-511.html

Taking Organizations Seriously in Understanding the Geography of Invention

Author

Listed:
  • Breandán Ó hUallacháin

Abstract

Large organizations mold technological advance in countries and even more so in cities. External economies of scale and invention are closely linked, but the organizational strategies of individual firms cannot be overlooked in understanding the geography of patenting. Market structures and inventive intensity are properties of complex systems featuring endogenous multi-directional interactions. Oligopolistic firms are pivotal in many large inventive cities, especially outside Silicon Valley. The more these firms dominate technological advance the higher the patenting rate. Less inventive large cities are frequently reliant on individuals and employees of universities and federal agencies to procure grants. Some implications of organizational structure and granularity for urban policy are outlined.

Suggested Citation

  • Breandán Ó hUallacháin, 2023. "Taking Organizations Seriously in Understanding the Geography of Invention," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 46(4), pages 482-511, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:inrsre:v:46:y:2023:i:4:p:482-511
    DOI: 10.1177/01600176221145880
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01600176221145880
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/01600176221145880?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. Maureen Mckelvey, 2001. "The Economic Dynamics Of Software: Three Competing Business Models Exemplified Through Microsoft, Netscape And Linux," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(2-3), pages 199-236.
    2. Oliver E. Williamson, 2002. "The Theory of the Firm as Governance Structure: From Choice to Contract," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 171-195, Summer.
    3. 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.
    4. Simona Iammarino & Andrés Rodriguez-Pose & Michael Storper, 2019. "Regional inequality in Europe: evidence, theory and policy implications," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 273-298.
    5. Shawn Kantor & Alexander Whalley, 2014. "Knowledge Spillovers from Research Universities: Evidence from Endowment Value Shocks," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(1), pages 171-188, March.
    6. Frank van der Wouden, 2020. "A history of collaboration in US invention: changing patterns of co-invention, complexity and geography," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 29(3), pages 599-619.
    7. McCann, Philip & Arita, Tomokazu, 2006. "Clusters and regional development: Some cautionary observations from the semiconductor industry," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 157-180, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Hsini Huang, 2020. "The effect of the small-firm dominated ecology on regional innovation," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 65(3), pages 703-725, December.
    2. Flavio L. Pinheiro & Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma & Dominik Hartmann, 2025. "The dark side of the geography of innovation: relatedness, complexity and regional inequality in Europe," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(1), pages 2106362-210, December.
    3. Bodas Freitas, Isabel Maria & Gonçalves, Ricardo & Sousa, Rui, 2023. "Governance of new product design: The influence of national institutions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    4. Han, Shaojie & Su, Jingqin & Lyu, Yibo & Liu, Qing, 2022. "How do business incubators govern incubation relationships with different new ventures?," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    5. Kutuk, Yasin, 2022. "Inequality convergence: A world-systems theory approach," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 150-165.
    6. Vinko Muštra & Blanka Šimundić & Zvonimir Kuliš, 2020. "Does innovation matter for regional labour resilience? The case of EU regions," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(5), pages 955-970, October.
    7. Stephanie Rosenkranz & Patrick W. Schmitz, 2007. "Can Coasean Bargaining Justify Pigouvian Taxation?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 74(296), pages 573-585, November.
    8. Paul Berbée & Sebastian Till Braun & Richard Franke, 2025. "Reversing fortunes of German regions, 1926–2019: Boon and bane of early industrialization?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 307-337, June.
    9. Schmitz, Patrick W., 2021. "On the optimality of outsourcing when vertical integration can mitigate information asymmetries," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    10. Marta Aloi & Joanna Poyago-Theotoky & Frédéric Tournemaine, 2022. "The Geography of Knowledge and R&D-led Growth [Real effects ofacademic research: comment]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(6), pages 1149-1190.
    11. Subhra Saha & Joseph Staudt & Bruce Weinbergx, 2017. "Estimating the Local Productivity Spillovers from Science," Working Papers 17-56, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    12. 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.
    13. Patrick W. Schmitz, 2006. "Information Gathering, Transaction Costs, and the Property Rights Approach," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(1), pages 422-434, March.
    14. Shobhit Kulshreshtha & Martin Salm & Ansgar Wübker, 2025. "Health drain: the effect of internal migration on regional disparities in healthcare costs," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 38(3), pages 1-28, September.
    15. Carmelina Bevilacqua & Yapeng Ou & Pasquale Pizzimenti & Guglielmo Minervino, 2019. "New Public Institutional Forms and Social Innovation in Urban Governance: Insights from the “Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics” (MONUM) in Boston," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-24, December.
    16. Güneş Aşık & Ulaş Karakoç & Şevket Pamuk, 2023. "Regional inequalities and the West–East divide in Turkey since 1913," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(4), pages 1305-1332, November.
    17. Isabel Miralles & Domenico Dentoni & Stefano Pascucci, 2017. "Understanding the organization of sharing economy in agri-food systems: evidence from alternative food networks in Valencia," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(4), pages 833-854, December.
    18. Raquel Ortega-Argilés, 2022. "The evolution of regional entrepreneurship policies: “no one size fits all”," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 69(3), pages 585-610, December.
    19. Cordes, Christian & Richerson, Peter J. & Schwesinger, Georg, 2010. "How corporate cultures coevolve with the business environment: The case of firm growth crises and industry evolution," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 465-480, December.
    20. Lichner, Ivan & Lyócsa, Štefan & Výrostová, Eva, 2022. "Nominal and discretionary household income convergence: The effect of a crisis in a small open economy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 18-31.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:inrsre:v:46:y:2023:i:4:p:482-511. 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: .

    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.