We conjecture that the Research and Development (R&D) subsidiary of a Multinational Enterprise (MNE) can be potentially embedded in three different networks viz. the science base of the home country, the science base of the host country, and/or the internal knowledge network of sister...

We contribute to the debate on the assessment of the behavioural effects of policies by investigating which features of policy interventions in support of innovation networks, if any, improve the firms’ ability to form subsequent relationships. In order to do so, we analyse the evolution of...

Drawing on evidence on the home furnishing sectors in Italy during the XX century, the aim is to understand the instituted processes that facilitated the translation of design know-how from being project-specific to becoming relevant to broader remits. The paper contributes to the debate on...

This paper tries to demonstrate that the well developed analysis of directional selection within evolutionary economics can be complemented by analyses of stabilizing selection and disruptive selection. It also tries to demonstrate that the evolutionary algebra provided by Price’s equation...

Studies on service management have broadly discussed the relationship between customization and standardization in services. Studies on modularity have enriched the debate by identifying an additional form of service provision able to couple the advantages of these two alternative approaches....

This study is aimed at a better understanding of the interaction between design of public support for innovation at different levels of policy-making, and firms’ innovation activities. How do firms respond to the incentives offered by various policies? We propose an analytical framework to...

Recent empirical contributions emphasize the importance of (potential) market size for the development of new pharmaceuticals. At the same time many scholars point out the importance of of scientific advances for the industry’s R&D activities. Against this background I analyze the relationship...

When an idea for a new product arrives, will it be developed and by whom? We develop a spatial model in which an idea arrives to a researcher within the firm. Products are imperfectly substitutable, so that developing a new product that is close to an existing product will cannibalize some...

Learning from experience is a central theme in the management literature. While in general experiential learning is viewed as efficacious, the literature increasingly points to the difficulties inherent in the learning process — many of which stem from a deficit of information about the merits...

The economic geography literature assumes that large leading firms (technology gatekeepers) (TGs) with high absorptive capacity and high-intensity R&D expenditures, shape the district learning process. However, there is an absence in the literature of a dynamic analysis of the role of the TG....