Are technology gatekeepers renewing clusters? Understanding gatekeepers and their dynamics across cluster life cycles

Jose-Luis Hervas-Oliver and Jose Albors-Garrigos

Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 2014, vol. 26, issue 5-6, 431-452

Abstract: The cluster literature assumes that technology gatekeepers (TGs) shape a district's learning process and its evolution. However, analysis of the resilience of TGs, and their role across different stages of the cluster life cycle (CLC), is absent. Instead, most of the evidence that has been produced is set at a particular stage of the CLC. This article seeks to use a qualitative case study to understand the dynamics of TGs, and their knowledge creation and diffusion capabilities in the CLC renewal period. This is a stage less studied in the literature. Further, the article explores TG resilience across different stages of the CLC. Our results show that not all TGs are resilient and necessary for cluster renewal. In addition, they are not sufficient for fostering disruptions: their manifest reluctance to destroy the status quo and their network centrality makes necessary the entrance of new firms with new knowledge. TGs are necessary because they facilitate a cluster's transition across stages thanks to their powerful control of the most vital aspect of clusters: networks.

Date: 2014
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/08985626.2014.933489 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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:taf:entreg:v:26:y:2014:i:5-6:p:431-452

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/TEPN20

DOI: 10.1080/08985626.2014.933489

Access Statistics for this article

Entrepreneurship & Regional Development is currently edited by Professor Alistair Anderson

More articles in Entrepreneurship & Regional Development from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().