IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wpa/wuwpmi/0404004.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Spatial Proximity and Complementarities in the Trading of Tacit Knowledge

Author

Listed:
  • Neslihan Aydogan

    (University of Maastricht)

  • Thomas P. Lyon

    (Kelley School of Business)

Abstract

We model knowledge-trading coalitions in which the transfer of tacit knowledge is unverifiable and requires face-to-face contact, making spatial proximity important. When there are sufficient “complementarities” in knowledge exchange, successful exchange is facilitated if firms can meet in a central location,thereby economizing on travel costs. When complementarities are small,however, a central location may be undesirable because it is more vulnerable to cheating than a structure involving bilateral travel between firms. We believe that our framework may help explain the structure and stability of multimember technology trading coalitions such as Sematech and Silicon Valley.

Suggested Citation

  • Neslihan Aydogan & Thomas P. Lyon, 2004. "Spatial Proximity and Complementarities in the Trading of Tacit Knowledge," Microeconomics 0404004, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpmi:0404004
    Note: Type of Document - pdf; pages: 38
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://econwpa.ub.uni-muenchen.de/econ-wp/mic/papers/0404/0404004.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John C. Harsanyi & Reinhard Selten, 1988. "A General Theory of Equilibrium Selection in Games," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262582384, December.
    2. Berliant, Marcus & Reed III, Robert R. & Wang, Ping, 2006. "Knowledge exchange, matching, and agglomeration," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 69-95, July.
    3. A J Scott & D P Angel, 1987. "The US Semiconductor Industry: A Locational Analysis," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 19(7), pages 875-912, July.
    4. Curtis Eaton & Mukesh Eswaran, 1997. "Technology-Traditing Coalitions in Supergames," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 28(1), pages 135-149, Spring.
    5. Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg & Rebecca Henderson, 1993. "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 577-598.
    6. Cooper, David P., 2001. "Innovation and reciprocal externalities: information transmission via job mobility," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 403-425, August.
    7. Goyal, Sanjeev & Moraga-Gonzalez, Jose Luis, 2001. "R&D Networks," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 32(4), pages 686-707, Winter.
    8. Morasch, Karl, 1995. "Moral hazard and optimal contract form for R&D cooperation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 63-78, September.
    9. Audretsch, David B & Feldman, Maryann P, 1996. "R&D Spillovers and the Geography of Innovation and Production," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 630-640, June.
    10. Richard Lipsey, 2002. "Some Implications Of Endogenous Technological Change For Technology Policies In Developing Countries," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(4-5), pages 321-351.
    11. Aydogan, Neslihan & Lyon, Thomas P., 2004. "Spatial proximity and complementarities in the trading of tacit knowledge," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(8-9), pages 1115-1135, November.
    12. 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.
    13. Ann Markusen, 1996. "Sticky Places in Slippery Space: A Typology of Industrial Districts," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 72(3), pages 293-313, July.
    14. Arora, Ashish, 1996. "Contracting for tacit knowledge: the provision of technical services in technology licensing contracts," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 233-256, August.
    15. Holmstrom, Bengt & Milgrom, Paul, 1994. "The Firm as an Incentive System," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 972-991, September.
    16. Kamien, Morton I & Muller, Eitan & Zang, Israel, 1992. "Research Joint Ventures and R&D Cartels," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(5), pages 1293-1306, December.
    17. Yongmin Chen, 2005. "Vertical Disintegration," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(1), pages 209-229, March.
    18. Richard C. Levin & Alvin K. Klevorick & Richard R. Nelson & Sidney G. Winter, 1987. "Appropriating the Returns from Industrial Research and Development," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 18(3, Specia), pages 783-832.
    19. Richard C. Levin & Alvin K. Klevorick & Richard R. Nelson & Sidney G. Winter, 1988. "Appropriating the Returns from Industrial R&D," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 862, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    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. Ana Paula Faria & Natália Barbosa & Vasco Eiriz, 2013. "Firms’ innovation across regions: an exploratory study," NIPE Working Papers 12/2013, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    2. Ana Paula Faria & Natália Barbosa & Vasco Eiriz, 2015. "Firm Innovation and Co-Location in Portugal," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(4), pages 574-592, December.
    3. Aydogan, Neslihan & Lyon, Thomas P., 2004. "Spatial proximity and complementarities in the trading of tacit knowledge," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(8-9), pages 1115-1135, November.
    4. Liang, Lin & Lin, Shanglang & Li, Yong, 2014. "How agglomeration in the financial services industry influences economic growth: Evidence from Chinese cities," Economics Discussion Papers 2014-6, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    5. Kiessling, Timothy & Maley, Jane Frances & Moeller, Miriam & Dabić, Marina, 2023. "Managing global knowledge transfer: Inpatriate manager embeddedness and firm innovation," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(2).
    6. Nobuaki Hamaguchi & Yoshihiro Kameyama, 2006. "Communication Externalities on the Knowledge-based Firms in Metropolitan Areas: Case Study of China and Korea," Discussion Paper Series 182, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.

    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. Fosfuri, Andrea & Rønde, Thomas, 2003. "High-Tech Clusters, Technology Spillovers and Trade Secret Laws," CEPR Discussion Papers 4130, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. MAULEON, Ana & SEMPERE-MONERRIS, José & VANNETELBOSCH, Vincent J., 2004. "R&D networks among unionized firms," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2004071, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    3. Jiang He & M. Hosein Fallah, 2014. "Dynamics of Inventor Networks and the Evolution of Technology Clusters," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(6), pages 2174-2200, November.
    4. Maryann P. Feldman & Frank R. Lichtenberg, 1998. "The Impact and Organization of Publicly-Funded Research and development in the European Community," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 49-50, pages 199-222.
    5. William R. Kerr & Frederic Robert-Nicoud, 2020. "Tech Clusters," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 50-76, Summer.
    6. Chung-Yi Tse, 2008. "Learning investment and industrial diversity in urban growth," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 11(2), pages 413-433, April.
    7. Gamal Atallah, 2002. "Vertical R&D Spillovers, Cooperation, Market Structure, and Innovation," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(3), pages 179-209.
    8. Fosfuri, Andrea & Ronde, Thomas, 2004. "High-tech clusters, technology spillovers, and trade secret laws," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 45-65, January.
    9. Bruno Cassiman & Reinhilde Veugelers, 1998. "R&D cooperation and spillovers: Some empirical evidence," Economics Working Papers 328, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    10. Fors, Gunnar & Zejan, Mario, 1996. "Overseas R&D by Multinationals in foreign Centers of Excellence," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 111, Stockholm School of Economics.
    11. Jarle Moen, 2005. "Is Mobility of Technical Personnel a Source of R&D Spillovers?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 23(1), pages 81-114, January.
    12. Cassiman, Bruno & Perez-Castrillo, David & Veugelers, Reinhilde, 2002. "Endogenizing know-how flows through the nature of R&D investments," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 775-799, June.
    13. Jeong-Eon Kim & Harvey E. Lapan, 2008. "Heterogeneity of southern countries and southern intellectual property rights policy," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 41(3), pages 894-925, August.
    14. 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.
    15. Lawrence A. Plummer & Zoltán J. Ács, 2015. "Localized competition in the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship," Chapters, in: Global Entrepreneurship, Institutions and Incentives, chapter 8, pages 145-160, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Per Botolf Maurseth, 2005. "Lovely but dangerous: The impact of patent citations on patent renewal," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(5), pages 351-374.
    17. Marini, Marco A., 2006. "The value of a new idea: knowledge transmission, workers’ mobility and market structure," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 697-706.
    18. Tobias Schlegel & Curdin Pfister & Dietmar Harhoff & Uschi Backes-Gellner, 2022. "Innovation effects of universities of applied sciences: an assessment of regional heterogeneity," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 63-118, February.
    19. Michele Cincera, 2005. "Firms' productivity growth and R&D spillovers: An analysis of alternative technological proximity measures," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(8), pages 657-682.
    20. Peter Mayerhofer & Oliver Fritz & Dieter Pennerstorfer, 2010. "Dritter Bericht zur internationalen Wettbewerbsfähigkeit Wiens," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 42430.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Tacit Knowledge; Clusters; Knowledge Trading; Complementarities. Spatial Proximity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L1 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance
    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights
    • R1 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:wpa:wuwpmi:0404004. 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: EconWPA The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask EconWPA to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://econwpa.ub.uni-muenchen.de .

    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.