Firm Performance in the Periphery: On the Relation between Firm-Internal Knowledge and Local Knowledge Spillovers

• This paper challenges one of the fundamental propositions within economic geography; that location in knowledge regions contributes to firm performance in general and especially for knowledge intensive firms that compete on the basis of knowledge. Our analysis of Swedish micro-data on 32,535 firms from 2004-2011 provides evidence that knowledge intensive firms benefit less from local knowledge spillovers than firms with comparably low in-house knowledge. This suggests that firms with high internal competencies can compensate for a lack of local knowledge spillovers and that negative knowledge externalities may make location outside knowledge centers more beneficial for such firms.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

knowledge spillovers

periphery

center

agglomeration

innovation

externalities

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ovr (ämneskategori)

vet (ämneskategori)