Leveraging Social Capital for Knowledge Development in Clusters

Paradoxically, in a time of information technology and high labour mobility, location still matters for firms. Clusters can be the source of advantages for those firms located within the cluster as well as for the entire region. This book presents a study exploring how social capital is leveraged for the transfer, sharing and spillover of knowledge to achieve competitive advantage in clusters. A resource based perspective on clusters was adopted, focussing on the interplay of the two intangible resources social capital and knowledge. A case study explored an Australian biotechnology cluster. Results revealed that the different dimensions of social capital drive knowledge development in distinct ways and that cluster management plays a crucial role. From a theoretical perspective, this research makes a valuable contribution by showing that the overlap of the three theoretical streams knowledge, social capital and clusters can be drawn on to explain how competitive advantage is created in clusters.

Lisa Neale has researched in the area of clusters, social capital and knowledge and has completed her PhD at the University of Adelaide and the University of Flensburg