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. 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. 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.

This thesis is primarily based on a case study on how the Internet affects the advertising industry in Oslo, Norway, and on how the digitization of advertising adds to our understanding of the geography of innovation and urban and regional development. The study argues that the Internet fundamentally changes and challenges the advertising industry, and that advertising merges into market communication and even user experience and product development. The interactive nature of the Internet and its parallel social and commercial worlds contribute to transcend the role of a traditional medium and to coalescence between production and consumption. Despite the fact that those involved in online and traditional advertising are located close to each other in Oslo, the extent of collective learning, knowledge externalities and innovation has been scarce. The study shows that the creative destruction of this industrial sector is ignited by actors outside the traditional advertising industry. Due to path dependency along one-way mass communication media incumbents within the advertising industry have left room for new actors, such as web agencies and technology consultants, to explore and take market share in online market communication services. The reconfiguration of market communication is regarded as the result of an industry mutation across advertising and ICT, and creates a need for bridging skills and competencies across creative, strategic and interactive domains. The implications of such an industry mutation across diverse sectors are used to discuss the evolutionary potential of the related variety perspective. The study argues that localized industrial change may be conceptualised in terms of a cyclical relationship between externalities from localisation economies and urbanisation economies respectively. The implications of the findings from the case study are in this way used to discuss more general drivers of urban and regional development. / Creativity and Innovation in the Cultural Industries

This thesis deals with questions concerning spatial agglomeration of economic activities. The object of study is the Internet industry in central Stockholm. Through the use of statistical data and an interview study the Internet industry is described, measured, and analyzed through theories concerning agglomerations, social network relations, and knowledge and information flows. These theories are interpreted through five agglomeration themes related to the role of customers, subcontractors and partners, competitors, financing, and labour market, respec-tively. The research has recognized the importance of proximity to create and maintain social networks, and to spread information and knowledge, especially tacit knowledge. The thesis also shows how social networks, and information and knowledge flows have an essential role in all the five agglomeration themes that are analyzed. The results of this analysis show that the proximity to customers is the most important factor for the location of the Internet indus-try. Also, the local labour market and access to suppliers and partners are important factors. Competitors and rivals have a role to play when it comes to the diffusion of knowledge and information, although its importance as a location factor is hard to estimate. The analysis of the firms’ financing demonstrate that this factor hardly has been of crucial importance for the location of the Internet industry, but access to (venture) capital might have been of indirect importance for the location and the pace of the development of the Internet industry.

The study focuses on the development path of a tourism destination area centered around a special nature reserve and adjacent rural communities in the northern part of Serbia. Utilizing evolutionary economic geography (EEG) as an increasingly present theoretical and conceptual framework in the studies of tourism, this research project employs key EEG concepts of ‘path dependence’ and ‘co-evolution’. ‘Path dependence’ examines different social, economic, institutional and sectoral factors that direct, propel and/or hinder destination development, while ‘co-evolution’ analyzes causal and relational exchanges of stakeholders within and associated with the destination. The objective of this study is to trace developmental and relational trajectories of the nature reserve, tourism enterprises in its vicinity, and the place and role of public sector in these processes. The study, therefore, aims to analyze: (1) how the concept of ‘path dependence’ applies to the tourism development path of the nature reserve; (2) the dynamics of co-evolutionary and relational exchange processes in the nature reserve destination area, namely those occurring between actors operating in both public and private sectors. The two combined EEG approaches, previously not applied within the outlined geographical context, serve to illustrate and explain overall development mechanisms within a tourism destination, relevant economically, socio-culturally as well as environmentally for its region and on the tourism market of Serbia. When methodology is concerned, the study is in form of a case study, with primary data drawn from semi-structured, in-depth interviews and supported with complementary data from relevant scientific articles, government documents, web sites and other publications. The study findings show that the nature reserve in its tourism growth displays a path dependence determined by two seemingly diverging factors: (1) rules and regulations pertaining to protected areas such as nature reserves dictate tourism development and (2) the reserve management entrepreneurial skills play a noteworthy role in shaping its tourism growth. Apart from path dependence, the tourism development path associated with the nature reserve displays path plasticity, which represents a new direction in tourism growth based on the existing infrastructural and managerial framework. Moreover, the study outcomes indicate that levels, directions and intensity of co-evolutionary and relational exchanges among all stakeholders included demonstrate several different patterns. While there is detectable relationship between the nature reserve and most local tourism-related stakeholders, relationships among local stakeholders themselves are rather uneven. Similar patterns are found regarding the involvement of public sector. Public sector is closely linked with the nature reserve, however, its association with other tourism stakeholders in the destination area is uneven.  These findings support the idea that each destination area stands as a unique and complex entity, with various endogenous and exogenous factors shaping its growth.

Studien utfördes som en kvalitativ fallstudie av en vindkraftsetablering som inte fick tillstånd att genomföras i Sollefteå kommun. Syftet var att undersöka samhällsacceptans med fokus på interregional rättvisa och regionalt ansvarstagande. Nationella rättvisefrågor behandlas när det kommer till relationen mellan norra och södra Sverige och stad och landsbygd. 19 intervjuer användes för att samla åsikter från fyra olika respondentgrupper: lokalbefolkning, kommunpolitiker i Sollefteå kommun, tjänstepersoner för kommunen och samer med rennäring i området. Studien visar på att det finns en upplevd orättvisa i området orsakad av en hög andel vindkraft och förnybar elproduktion jämfört med andra delar av Sverige. Vindkraftens påverkan lokalt ansågs vara övervägande negativ. Ersättningen för etableringarna ansågs inte tillräcklig för att kompensera för den negativa lokala påverkan. Det skapar en upplevelse av interregional orättvisa där vissa regioner tar större ansvar för den förnybara elproduktionen. Upplevelsen av ett för högt regionalt ansvarstagande utan tillräcklig lokal nytta försämrar samhällsacceptansen. Studien påvisar att den lokala nyttan i samband med vindkraftsetableringen är en avgörande faktor för samhällsacceptansen ur ett rättviseperspektiv mellan regioner. Även förtroende till etableraren och både förståelse och kunskap bland etablerare visade sig vara betydande för den upplevda påverkan av en vindkraftsetablering.

Detta är en kvalitativ intervjustudie med en abduktiv ansats. Studien undersöker hur två geografiskt närliggande kommuner, Gävle och Uppsala kommun, agerar innan, under och efter en kris när det gäller kriskommunikation och hur respektive kommun förhåller sig till upprättade kommunikationsnätverk. Datamaterialet har främst analyserats enligt Ahuja, Sodaoch Zaheers (2012) fem dimensioner i ett nätverk och Garnett och Kouzmins (2007) fyra linser inom kriskommunikation. I studien identifierades både strukturella skillnader och likheter mellan kommunerna. Uppsala kommun har till exempel två arbetsroller: kommunikatör i beredskap och tjänsteman i beredskap, vilket Gävle kommun inte har. Där utöver ändrar båda kommunerna sin rapporteringsstruktur från en linjeorganisation till en matrisorganisation under en kris. Båda exemplen visar på vikten av det relativa avståndet i kommunerna, det vill säga avståndet mellan anställda/aktörer i kommunerna. Om det relativa medelavståndet mellan aktörerna i kommunerna minskas kan felinformation och problem lättare hanteras. Möjliga aspekter för framtida studier som har identifierats i studien är valet av att ha kraftigt decentraliserade grupperingar i nätverken samt det begränsade antalet plattformar som kommunerna använder under en kris.

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This study examines the dynamic transformation of the ICT cluster in Kista Science City, Sweden. Over the past few decades, Kista has been a prominent ICT hub, historically compared to Silicon Valley. However, recent years have seen significant changes as major companies such as Polarium, CGI, Oracle, and Microsoft have relocated to other parts of the Stockholm region. This qualitative study investigates the implications of these relocations on the cluster's dynamics, focusing on local buzz and global pipelines. Through semi-structured interviews with relevant stakeholders, including large and small enterprises, the research explores how geographical proximity affects collaboration, innovation, and knowledge transfer within the cluster. The findings suggest that while geographical proximity remains crucial for fostering trust and informal knowledge exchange (local buzz), the establishment of structured external networks (global pipelines) is equally important for maintaining competitive advantage. The study concludes that Kista Science City still holds significant potential as a dynamic cluster, provided it adapts to the evolving needs of its constituent companies and continues to integrate both local and global knowledge flows.

A fundamental research question in regional economic development, is why some regions are able to diversify into new products and industries, while others continue to face challenges in diversification? This doctorate research explores the different pathways to diversification. It follows the three-stage modular structure of DBA for Cranfield School of Management. This thesis consists of a systematic literature review, a single qualitative case study on UAE, and a research synthesis of published cases on Singapore, Norway and UAE. The linking document provides a summary of the three projects and consolidates findings and contributions into a path creation model that provides new understanding on the pathways to regional diversifications. This research integrates existing theoretical foundations of evolutionary economic geography, institutional economic geography, path dependence, industry relatedness, economic complexity, and path creation into a unified conceptual path creation model. It generates propositions, builds a framework and develops a matrix for path creation that integrate context, actors, factors, mechanisms and outcomes shaping regional diversification. It finds that in the context of path dependence and existing conditions of a region, economic actors undertake strategic measures to influence the institutional capabilities to accumulate knowledge and trigger indigenous creation, anchoring, branching, and clustering diversification mechanisms to create complex varieties of related and unrelated diversification outcomes. The institutional collaboration capabilities are found to be instrumental in accumulating knowledge and determining the relatedness and complexity of diversification outcomes. This research further provides a set of integrated platform strategies to guide policy-makers on setting up the pathways to regional diversification.

This thesis studies the learning process between foreign and local knowledge in a community of organic farmers by the name Atitlán Organics in Tzununa, rural Guatemala. Foreign settlers with formal education and contemporary farming experience work alongside indigenous local Guatemalan farmers in this community, which also takes on international volunteer workers. These people of various background and differing intentions cooperate to develop the community and its business of organic food production while learning from each other. The foreigners bring global theories that relate to farming such as permaculture designs and scientific knowledge while the Guatemalans know the local land and how to work with it. This thesis outlines the learning process between these different competencies and presents a nuanced discussion on how these types of knowledge exchange can be beneficial for the people and the community. Diverse competencies can complement each other and enhance collaborative work but limitations can also occur due to difficulties of understanding other socio-cultural contexts, while risks of neo-colonial tendencies and western knowledge hegemony lure in these situations. The discussion in this thesis highlights the importance of mutual consciousness about this process in the community and what that can be done to enhance collaborative learning while avoiding such risks.