No description available.

In this dissertation, I evaluate questions related to the role of connectivity in economic and innovation-related processes. Specifically, I utilize conceptual frameworks from the economic geography literature to study the relevance of internal, external, and infrastructural connectivity at a city level.In the first essay, I examine the role of intra-metropolitan connectivity of inventors and evaluate the quality of the associated innovation outputs. I focus on the fact that there exist meaningful demographic differences between people domiciled in city centers and the suburban areas and claim that these heterogeneities serve as sources of diversity and creativity. I suggest empirical evidence that the collaboration of inventors from the two different sub-regions is associated with higher quality innovation outcomes. I further study how firm heterogeneity moderates the effects of this intra-metropolitan connectivity. The findings suggest that local firms and small to mid-sized firms (SMEs) enjoy more benefits because foreign firms and large firms are exploiting their own global network. This paper provides both managerial and practical implications that a metropolitan area may improve its quality of innovation outputs by taking advantage of the urban-suburban connectivity among the inventors. In the second essay, I provide specific guidelines to city planners to evaluate the external connectivity of the associated city. Cities are industry hotspots, playing vital roles as centers of economic development. Each city has different location-specific advantages that can foster different core industries and firms, participating in diverse activities within a global value chain system. Given the increasing rate of globalization at the metro level, it has become paramount for cities to establish and develop economic partnerships with other cities to further growing their regional economies. However, few city planners have clear directions in choosing partner cities, and the decisions are rarely based on appropriate data analysis. Based on the Brookings Institution’s Global City Initiative 2.0 project, and after enhancing it with additional data analyses, I introduce a set of step-by-step guidelines to city planners for finding global partner cities. To provide an actual case, I share our own anecdote regarding how Philadelphia chose potential partner cities in order to attract more FDI in its biopharmaceutical sector and foster innovation activities. I also present evidence that the inadequate ability of local firms to source knowledge from international markets associates with relatively weak economic performance. The comprehensive analyses of the city’s role in the global value chain include from the upstream (Research and Development) and the midstream (FDI, imports, international joint ventures) to the downstream (exports). This case-based paper provides practical implications to city planners by providing ways of understanding the broad global value chain with which the city is involved. In the third essay, I assess the relationship between soft networks and hard networks of global cities. Public transportation systems (PTS) have been developed along with the associated metropolitan area. Scholars in urban studies have emphasized the important roles of PTS in connecting diverse people, regions, activities, and socio-economic consequences. In this paper, I examine the relationship between public transportation systems and the innovation network in four major U.S. cities in the northeast - New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. I graphically show that inventor locations, as well as their connectivity, are established along with the city’s public transportation networks. I further stipulate that this relationship has been seriously undermined by the recent pandemic – COVID-19. Even though it is too early to draw a conclusion, I advance propositions that predict how the relationship between public transportation network and inventor connectivity will be changed followed by the pandemic. In conclusion, I claim that a metropolitan area’s internal, external, and infrastructural network significantly affects its competitiveness. Throughout this dissertation, I confirm that both hard networks and soft networks are key to enhancing the economic and innovative performance of the city. / Business Administration/International Business Administration

This paper is about understanding which of two securitizing theories are the most dominant within the EU discourse from 2015 when immigration rose dramatically to the EU and up to 2019 when a new regulation heavily expanded the authority of Frontex, the European border- and coastguard. The two theoretical schools are the Copenhagen School, based on the thoughts of Ole Wæver and Barry Buzan and colleagues, and securitization based on International Political Sociology, mainly based on the thoughts of Didier Bigo. The Copenhagen School bases their thought on securitization of that of a ‘speech act’ made by an authoritative actor. By uttering something as a security threat it allows extraordinary measures to deal with the issue. Securitization according to IPS is based on actions, rather than discourse, and claims that through the development and cooperation of securitizing organisations and investments in high tech surveillance systems a spiral of (in)securitization is created. Through studying documents from the European Commission, the analysis examines which one of these two schools of thoughts is the most dominant. Even if there are clear evidence of securitization acts according to the Copenhagen School in the analysed material, the most prominent theory, mainly due to the EU structure, is that of securitization according to IPS.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

<p>The economic importance of design-intensive and cultural-products industries has grown in recent decades. One case in point is Sweden, where internationally competitive industries have emerged in areas such as multimedia, fashion, and music. During the 1990s, research in economic geography and related disciplines concerned with the link between geographical location and competitive advantage has found an important source of inspiration in the cluster approach. The thesis examines the relationship between spatial clustering and industrial competitive-ness by undertaking a series of empirical studies that explore various dimensions of the Swedish music industry. The thesis demonstrates that the Swedish music industry embraces a multitude of actors in a complex, spatially clustered production system characterised by dense social networks, which transcend individual firms. Processes and mechanisms that have enhanced the creation and diffusion of strategic knowledge as well as co-operative competition further promote the competitiveness of this cluster. Moreover, the thesis demonstrates that it is necessary to carefully consider the relation between the local milieu and the global music industrial production and distribution system in order to fully understand competitiveness in the music industry. Finally, the thesis examines how the cluster concept has been put into practice in Swedish industrial and regional policies concerning cultural industries.</p>

<p>Labour mobility can in theory be an efficient channel for knowledge transfer between cluster firms, thus contributing to growth and competitiveness. In the thesis labour mobility in two Swedish ICT clusters is studied. The purpose of the thesis is to develop an understanding of processes of labour mobility in clusters and to investigate whether mobility can be regarded as a cluster advantage. Both interview data and extensive registry data are used in order to analyse processes of mobility at three levels: individual, firm and cluster level.</p><p>The results show that labour mobility can to some extent be considered a cluster advantage for Swedish ICT firms, since cluster firms are likely to experience a higher level of labour mobility. It is also shown how mobility to and from the clusters contributes to the upgrading of formal competencies within cluster firms. However, the firms themselves are shown to rather focus on staff retention than turnover. </p><p>To some degree, labour mobility in the Swedish clusters in focus is presumably constrained by the formal institutional framework, as well as by informal rules and agreements between cluster firms. It is argued nonetheless that the sheer potential for mobility and the viability of informal hiring practices in clusters may be viewed as cluster advantages, besides the actual extent of labour mobility.</p>

Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2010. Sammanfattning jämte 4 uppsatser.

The economic importance of design-intensive and cultural-products industries has grown in recent decades. One case in point is Sweden, where internationally competitive industries have emerged in areas such as multimedia, fashion, and music. During the 1990s, research in economic geography and related disciplines concerned with the link between geographical location and competitive advantage has found an important source of inspiration in the cluster approach. The thesis examines the relationship between spatial clustering and industrial competitive-ness by undertaking a series of empirical studies that explore various dimensions of the Swedish music industry. The thesis demonstrates that the Swedish music industry embraces a multitude of actors in a complex, spatially clustered production system characterised by dense social networks, which transcend individual firms. Processes and mechanisms that have enhanced the creation and diffusion of strategic knowledge as well as co-operative competition further promote the competitiveness of this cluster. Moreover, the thesis demonstrates that it is necessary to carefully consider the relation between the local milieu and the global music industrial production and distribution system in order to fully understand competitiveness in the music industry. Finally, the thesis examines how the cluster concept has been put into practice in Swedish industrial and regional policies concerning cultural industries.