Diverse diversities—Open innovation in small towns and rural areas

Abstract

It is generally accepted that cities and other forms of geographic agglomerations are conducive to innovation because their density and variety of firms, sectors and individuals create a diverse environment. However, a growing body of work shows that innovation also occurs in peripheral regions and small towns. Furthermore, work on rural social networks shows that diversity is multidimensional, and that along certain dimensions networks developed in rural areas are more diverse than those observed in cities. In this paper, we develop these arguments, then report our observations of seven successful firms in Swiss small towns. These firms benefit from at least three types of diversity: internal diversity; multiplexed interactions between workers at different hierarchical levels; and external diversity as firms reach beyond the region. We conclude that diversity conducive to firm‐level innovation is not a specifically urban attribute: at least some of its dimensions are present in small towns and more peripheral areas.

Innovation in the periphery: Compensation and exploitation strategies

“…The findings also have implications for mainstream economic geography. In line with recent research (Fitjar & Rodríguez‐Pose, ; Grillitsch & Nilsson, , ; Isaksen, ; Meili & Shearmur, ; Shearmur & Doloreux, ), this paper has shown that innovation studies must overcome their predominant focus on core regions to also include conceptual and empirical work on innovation in peripheral regions. Furthermore, these findings contribute to the policy debate, as they dismiss the dominant unfavourable view on peripheral locations.…”

“…As these firms provide employment for highly skilled workers, they might contribute to halting brain drain and to even attract talent from outside the region (Meili & Shearmur, 2019). Recent theoretical advances like the peripheralisation approach have also highlighted that geographical remoteness is not a sufficient factor for delimiting peripheral regions.…”

An infatuation with building things: Business strategies, linkages, and small city economic development in Manitoba

“…Overall, while it is important to acknowledge the understanding of development in Steinbach and Winkler provided by previous research, it is also worth stating that the overall analysis of the standardized firm responses appears to show that many currently accepted bases of business expansion have limited utility in this study. In addition, these findings (and others to be discussed) confirm earlier findings on the uniqueness of small city development strategies and trajectories (see Meili & Shearmur, 2019; van Heur, 2010).…”

“…In many ways, the most dynamic small cities provide a rich set of examples of how each has built upon unique, location-based characteristics to foster a setting in which growth can occur (Waitt & Gibson, 2009). Given all of this, it is clear that more attention to small cities is needed, especially research that acknowledges the unique development trajectories connected to small city success stories (Amin & Graham, 1997;Meili & Shearmur, 2019;van Heur, 2010). On balance, a reasonable basis for proceeding is to acknowledge that when small cities do succeed, they often succeed differently from larger centers (Robinson, 2002(Robinson, , 2006 and that their success generates highly positive and meaningful impacts for their regions (Dijkstra et al, 2013).…”

“…Consequently, there is no shortage of evidence of rural and small city economic failure (Whitaker, 2015;Wirth, Elis, Muller, & Yamamoto, 2016;Wuthnow, 2019). However, it is also important to acknowledge that some small centers can and do succeed (Meili & Shearmur, 2019;Parkinson, Meegan, & Karecha, 2014;Robinson, 2006;Waitt & Gibson, 2009). Such success, and its bases, is of interest to the broad audience of small city economic development leaders who would like to duplicate such expansion in their regions.…”