Making the Most of Where You Are: Geography, Networks, and Innovation in Organizations

Collaboration in open-plan offices

“…Proximity, in the network perspective, has typically been conceptualised as the geographical distance between two organisations (e.g. Cassi & Plunket, 2013;Funk, 2014). Knoben and Oerlemans (2006) also point to six forms of non-spatial proximity, including institutional proximity and technological proximity, but these concepts that capture the similarity between organisations are not directly relevant to issues associated with the physical work environment.…”

“…Cassi & Plunket, 2013;Funk, 2014;Hallen, Katila, & Rosenberger, 2014). Few network researchers appear to have gone inside buildings to examine the implications of other physical variables, such as layout, barriers, or office size, on the development of collaborative networks.…”

“…Although rarely subjected to empirical scrutiny, one of the main assumptions of research on knowledge clusters is that physical proximity between firms promotes knowledge spill-overs, because individuals who work for different organisations experience chance encounters in the local area, such as at events, community clubs, and children's activities (e.g. Funk, 2014). These chance encounters can lead to knowledge sharing and opportunities for employees to take jobs at different firms, and may be the first step in the development of formal collaborations such as joint ventures or strategic alliances (Cassi & Plunket, 2013).…”

“…Cassi & Plunket, 2013;Funk, 2014). Network researchers have explored the structure of "ties" between organisations, individuals, or knowledge resources, to understand the implications for organisational performance, innovation and other outcomes (Borgatti & Foster, 2003).…”

Curvilinear Relationship between Corporate Innovation and Environmental Sustainability

“…Patenting refers to a firm's activities to codify knowledge [52,53], and thus it can be measured with the number of patents that are filed to USPTO in a given year [49,50]. On the other hand, prior patents are previously codified knowledge, and they are represented by the cumulative number of patents that were previously filed to USPTO until a given year.…”