The paper provides a contribution to the recent debate about targets and effectiveness of network policies at the EU level, by presenting a detailed analysis of the large R&D network that has emerged over Framework Programmes. Social network analysis and graph theory are employed to describe structural properties and dynamics of the emerging network, which appears to be rather dense and pervasive, branching around a large "oligarchic core", whose centrality and connectivity strengthened over programmes. The paper discusses the degree to which this network structure may respond to EU broad policy objectives of competitiveness and cohesion and its implications for recent programmes aimed at shaping a European Research Area. In particular, attention is placed on the late focus by European institutions on networking centres of excellence. Since future initiatives are to build on the existing fabric of science and technology in Europe, we argue that understanding how networks formed and evolved following previous stimuli is of great relevance for implementing and assessing the impact of the newly defined network approach.

Innovation modes in services, KIBS, Italy, O31, O50, L84,

From a development perspective an investigation of the changes that have occurred in the wine industry is of particular interest because it provides evidence on how emerging economies have been able to acquire significant shares of the international market in a dynamic sector. Based on novel empirical evidence as well as secondary sources, this paper shows that emerging countries with diverse institutional models and innovation strategies, have been driving the process of technological modernization and product standardization. Newcomers in the wine sector have responded particularly effectively to changes in consumption habits, and in aligning emerging scientific approaches with institutional building efforts and successful marketing strategies.

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Cusmano L., Mancusi M. L. and Morrison A. Globalization of production and innovation: how outsourcing is reshaping an advanced manufacturing area, Regional Studies. This paper investigates the determinants and the spatial and functional dimensions of firms' outsourcing. Based on a large survey of manufacturing firms in Lombardy, Italy, the analysis shows that outsourcing is remarkably wide across sectors and has a clear regional dimension, concerning highly skilled firms at most. Offshoring is still a minor fraction of the deverticalization process, largely related to wider strategies of internationalization by foreign group subsidiaries at intermediate stages of the value chain. The evidence suggests the regional system is inserting onto global knowledge networks, but also points at the risk of 'branch plant effects' in high-technology segments. [image omitted] Cusmano L., Mancusi M. L. et Morrison A. La mondialisation de la production et de l'innovation: comment l'approvisionnement a l'exterieur reorganise une zone industrielle avancee, Regional Studies. Cet article cherche a examiner les determinants et la portee geographique et fonctionnelle de l'approvisionnement a l'exterieur des entreprises. A partir d'une enquete detaillee des entreprises industrielles situees en Lombardie en Italie, l'analyse laisse voir que l'approvisionnement a l'exterieur s'avere tres generalisee a travers les secteurs et a une portee nettement regionale en ce qui concerne notamment les entreprises dont la main-d'oeuvre est hautement qualifiee. Les activites offshore representent toujours une proportion negligeable du processus de desintegration verticale et se rapporte etroitement aux strategies d'internationalisation des filiales des groupes etrangers aux etapes intermediaires de la chaine des valeurs. Les preuves laissent supposer que le systeme regional s'insere dans des reseaux de connaissance mondiaux, mais indique egalement la menace que pose des 'effets etablissement' dans les secteurs a la pointe de la technologie. Approvisionnement a l'exterieur Activites offshore Systeme de production regional Industrie Italie Cusmano L., Mancusi M. L. und Morrison A. Die Globalisierung von Produktion und Innovation: Wie sich eine fort geschrittene Produktionsregion durch Outsourcing verandert, Regional Studies. In diesem Beitrag untersuchen wir die Determinanten sowie die raumlichen und funktionellen Dimensionen des Outsourcing von Firmen. Ausgehend von einer umfangreichen Erhebung unter produzierenden Firmen in der Lombardei, Italien, geht aus der Analyse hervor, dass das Outsourcing in den verschiedenen Sektoren bemerkenswert weit verbreitet ist und eine eindeutig regionale Dimension aufweist, die vor allem Firmen mit hohem Qualifikationsniveau betrifft. Die Verlagerung ins Ausland stellt weiterhin einen kleinen Bruchteil des Devertikalisierungsprozesses dar und ist grosstenteils mit den breiter angelegen Internationalisierungsstrategien von Filialen auslandischer Konzerne auf den mittleren Stufen der Wertschopfungskette verknupft. Die B...

Increasingly the firm meets limits to its reach over the breadth of technologies and capabilities that are needed to innovate. Empirical study has shown that innovation processes are distributed across a variety of actors. The distribution of innovation processes across actors calls for specific forms of governance which extend across the boundaries of the firm, such as loosely coupled innovative networks. Technological and market drivers determine the location of agents within such networks, reflecting their needs and capabilities to co-ordinate systemic knowledge and power dependencies. The paper discusses the theoretical perspectives on the technological and market dimensions involved in the co-ordination of distributed innovative activities, proposing an interpretative framework for the investigation of R&D collaborations. Exploring these topics through the lens of the upstream petroleum industry, we investigate the relationship between competitive domains, technological profiles and positioning of actors within R&D networks, arguing that technological and market power contribute differently to the evolution of co-ordinating (nexus) functions over time.Collaborative R&D, Distributed innovation processes, R&D networks, Oil and gas,

The origin and growth of industry clusters have attracted the attention of scholars and policy makers since the early era of industrialisation. The seminal work by Alfred Marshall has represented the foundation for a rich strand of literature, whose late expansion and refinement were inspired by the experiences of localised development in emerging regions. This is the case of Italian industrial districts, which have emerged as a territorial model of industrial agglomeration, decentralised production and flexible specialisation. Recently, the traditional explananda of the emergence of clusters have been reconsidered. The evidence about the growth of clusters in areas that did not have obvious natural advantages, or the first comers' benefits of early agglomeration economies, has inspired a different conceptualisation, which draws consistently from the evolutionary perspective on industrial dynamics. Klepper shows that more successful firms have higher spin-off rates and their spin-offs tend to outperform competitors. Organisational reproduction and heredity are thus identified as the primary forces underlying clustering. The present paper investigates the emergence and evolution of an Italian industrial district, the Sassuolo tile district, one of the largest and most successful ceramic districts in the world and a paradigmatic example of an Italian Marshallian district. Overall, our findings confirm that organisational reproduction and heredity represent primary mechanisms of clustering. However our results also show that spin-offs do not perform better than non-spin-offs. It appears that, in dense industrial environments and social networks, competitive advantages can also be acquired or built through other channels.

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