Responsabilit� soci�tale et d�veloppement durable

The canonical approach argues that firms located in industrial districts enjoy advantages for both innovation and performance as a consequence of the exceptionally strong knowledge spillovers that flow freely and spontaneously within them. However, diffusion of shared competences is not as easy and free as postulated in the literature. Using the resource-based view, we study whether clustered firms perform better than non-clustered firms, by providing empirical evidence that location of firms in an industrial district does not directly create innovation capabilities or economic rents. This research question is important because it enables us to better understand how firms benefit from this external knowledge flow, both to create advantages in technological innovation and to obtain superior organizational performance. To stand out in capabilities that are often localized at the centre of the same industrial district, a firm needs to develop a learning internal micro-environment capable of better absorbing localized knowledge spillovers. In particular, the organic form is revealed as a configuration well suited to combining structural flexibility with the productive flexibility offered by the district and to strengthening technological innovation capabilities, thus improving organizational performance.

Research on knowledge strategies argues that the configuration of activities used by companies to acquire new and leverage existing knowledge is an important influencing factor of company performance. However, we do not know very much about how companies actually structure knowledge acquisition. In addition, we do not know which configurations of knowledge acquisition are conducive to company performance. Furthermore, knowledge strategies have largely been neglected in the context of young and entrepreneurial companies. Drawing on an explorative analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, we investigate strategies and activities for knowledge acquisition in the context of young biotechnology companies in Germany. The study reveals four distinct knowledge acquisition strategies (low key, mid range, focus and explorer) and shows that these strategies differ in their relation to company performance as a result of their configuration of knowledge acquisition activities and the type of knowledge acquired.