Record Details

Clusters as Geographically Bounded Organizational Fields: The Meaning of Proximity in the Basel Pharmaceutical Industry

American Journal of Business and Management

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Field Value
 
Title Clusters as Geographically Bounded Organizational Fields: The Meaning of Proximity in the Basel Pharmaceutical Industry
 
Creator Dörhöfer, Steffen; Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences, University of Applied Sciences Nordhausen, Germany
Minnig, Christoph; School of Business, University of Applied Sciences, Northwestern Switzerland
 
Subject Organizatio Theory, Sociology
organizational field, cluster, social capital, culture, pharmaceutical industry, networks, innovation chain
Organizational theory
 
Description Multinational enterprises have to organize their economic activities on different spatial scales ranging from global to local contexts. Firm clusters are the localized spaces where companies assemble the management, working and innovation processes in a socially embedded environment. The aim of this article is to conceptualize exchange processes between companies and the firm cluster as an interdependent construction process, in which internationalized players structure their local relationships for the purpose of economic benefits. With the concept of organizational fields, the construction of regional clusters will be analyzed as stabilized relations, networks and “logics of interaction” among specific actors. Although neo-institutional theory conceptualizes socio-cultural underpinnings of inter-firm-relationships on a global scale, proximate interactions of local actors remain a blind spot in this perspective. Therefore, ideas of cluster concepts are taken into account to fill this gap. To further enhance the distinctiveness of proximate network ties and interactions, a case study of the Basel pharmaceutical cluster was conducted. Based on interviews, participant observation and document analysis the different production and innovation strategies of companies both within and beyond a geographically bounded field are investigated. The characteristic features of proximate network ties could be explained by the cultural underpinnings of interactions and the meaning of localized social capital.
 
Publisher World Scholars
 
Contributor European Commission (6th Framework)
 
Date 2012-11-30
 
Type Peer-reviewed Article
 
Format application/pdf
 
Identifier http://wscholars.com/index.php/ajbm/article/view/186
10.11634/216796061504186
 
Source American Journal of Business and Management; Vol 1, No 4 (2012); 259-270
 
Language en
 
Relation http://wscholars.com/index.php/ajbm/article/download/186/513
 
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