Knowledge Flows through Informal Contacts in Industrial Clusters Myths or Realities?

Michael S. Dahl () and Christian Ø.R. Pedersen
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Christian R. Østergaard ()

No 03-01, DRUID Working Papers from DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies

Abstract: The role of informal networks in the development of regional clusters has received a lot of attention in the literature recently. Informal contact between employees in different firms is argued to be one of the main carriers of knowledge between firms in a cluster. This paper empirically examines the role of informal contacts in a specific cluster. In a recent questionnaire, we ask a sample of engineers in a regional cluster of wireless communication firms in Northern Denmark, a series of questions on informal networks. We analyze whether the engineers actually acquire valuable knowledge through these networks. We find that the engineers do share even valuable knowledge with informal contacts. This shows that informal contacts are important channels of knowledge diffusion.

Keywords: Informal contacts; regional clusters; communication technology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L63 O15 D83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-ent, nep-geo, nep-ino, nep-tid and nep-ure
Date: 2003
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