Firm-driven path creation in arctic peripheries

Abstract

In this paper, the author argues that path creation in regions could be connected to extra-regional firms, networks, and knowledge . However, since the 1990s, the field of evolutionary economic geography has emphasized the importance of endogenous factors in explaining mechanisms of growth and decline. In the debate on path development, there has been strong trust in internal regional processes, where regional innovation systems, related variety, and regional branching have been important sources of new growth patterns. Consequently, the anchoring of multinational corporations in regions as new sources of regional growth and firms’ strategic behavior has received less attention in the evolutionary economic geography discourse. There is less understanding of path creation as “outside-in” transplantation and of the role of extra-regional sources of knowledge and new path development. Accordingly, as peripheral regions often lack notions of relatedness within economic sectors, they depend on exogenous sources of new path development. By applying a set of quantitative and qualitative data from the buildup of a new offshore cluster in the petroleum sector off the coast of Finnmark in Northern Norway, the author suggests that firm behavior within a multiscalar network of actors plays a dominant strategic role in the development of new paths in the periphery. He argues that exogenous development impulses in the form of a combination of multinational corporations, state policies of local content, and the inflow of new knowledge through the inward transplantation of firms from outside can initiate new industrial paths. Thus, the author raises fundamental questions about the applicability of models of endogenous path creation in peripheral regions and suggests a new analytical framework for understanding how the entry of strategic firms connects with different regional paths.

Policy for Evolution of Regional Innovation Systems: The Role of Social Capital and Regional Particularities

“…Through including central aspects of theory from relational economic geography, we believe that cluster studies and evolutionary theory should take into account how diversified MNC practices influence processes of cluster renewal. We have attempted to illustrate how emphasizing the relational characteristics of economic activity Nilsen, 2017), operationalized as the practice of MNCs, adds nuance to the typical view of extra-regional cluster linkages. Arguments for such a dualistic approach that considers the heterogeneity of extra-regional linkages and MNC practices has also been highlighted in, for instance, the literature on global value chains (e.g., Gereffi, Humphrey, & Sturgeon, 2005) and global production networks (e.g., Coe, Hess, Yeung, Dicken, & Henderson, 2004;Henderson, Dicken, Hess, Coe, & Yeung, 2002).…”

“…Hence, we base our approach on an understanding of MNC activity as a practice of networking and transfer of knowledge (Fløysand, Njøs, Nilsen, & Nygaard, 2016;Nilsen, 2016Nilsen, , 2017. Consequently, in developing our approach, we argue that there is a need to incorporate relational understandings (e.g., in conceptualizations of cluster renewal.…”

Cluster renewal and the heterogeneity of extra-regional linkages: a study of MNC practices in a subsea petroleum cluster

“…Through including central aspects of theory from relational economic geography, we believe that cluster studies and evolutionary theory should take into account how diversified MNC practices influence processes of cluster renewal. We have attempted to illustrate how emphasizing the relational characteristics of economic activity Nilsen, 2017), operationalized as the practice of MNCs, adds nuance to the typical view of extra-regional cluster linkages. Arguments for such a dualistic approach that considers the heterogeneity of extra-regional linkages and MNC practices has also been highlighted in, for instance, the literature on global value chains (e.g., Gereffi, Humphrey, & Sturgeon, 2005) and global production networks (e.g., Coe, Dicken, & Hess, 2008;Coe, Hess, Yeung, Dicken, & Henderson, 2004;Henderson, Dicken, Hess, Coe, & Yeung, 2002).…”

“…Hence, we base our approach on an understanding of MNC activity as a practice of networking and transfer of knowledge (Fløysand, Njøs, Nilsen, & Nygaard, 2016;Nilsen, 2016Nilsen, , 2017. Consequently, in developing our approach, we argue that there is a need to incorporate relational understandings (e.g., Hassink & Klaerding, 2009) in conceptualizations of cluster renewal.…”

Untitled

“…koncepcja okien sposobności lokalizacyjnych czy pokrewieństwa branżowego (Boschma i Frenken, 2018). Trwa debata, na ile kreowanie nowych ścieżek jest wynikiem uaktywnienia często nieodkrytych lub niedocenianych miejscowych zasobów, a w jakim stopniu zależy od zasobów kapitałowych i informacyjnych pochodzących z innych regionów (Isaksen, 2009;Nilsen, 2017). Wyzwaniem dla badaczy pozostaje integracja ewolucyjnej geografii ekonomicznej z nurtem instytucjonalnym i pełniejsze uwzględnienie sprawczej roli jednostek i grup społecznych oraz relacji władzy.…”