Intermediaries and Capability Building in ‘Emerging’ Clusters

Ian Clarke and Matias Ramirez
Additional contact information
Ian Clarke: Greenwich Business School, University of Greenwich, Old Royal Naval College Park Row, Greenwich, London SE10 9LS, England

Environment and Planning C, 2014, vol. 32, issue 4, 714-730

Abstract: Increasing attention has begun to focus on the important role that organisations undertaking intermediary functions can play in supporting emerging clusters of small producers. In contrast to most studies of intermediaries that focus on governance and filling information gaps, in this paper we examine how the organisational skills of intermediaries evolve as firms in the cluster assume a broader range of practices. Through a purpose-built typology and a detailed case study, the argument is made not only that intermediaries act to facilitate the diffusion of knowledge but also that their scope of activities, extending into coordinating joint actions and new investment initiatives, places them at the centre of the network of organisations. This growing influence of intermediaries has implications for producer firms, especially in aspects such as inclusion of smaller producers and network formation.

Keywords: intermediary; cluster; agriculture; natural resource (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/c1262r (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envirc:v:32:y:2014:i:4:p:714-730

DOI: 10.1068/c1262r

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Environment and Planning C
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().