ABSTRACT
A substantial body of literature has highlighted the role of clusters in fostering innovation and economic growth (Maskell and Malmberg 1999; Simmie 2003). As a result of globalisation, cluster-based firms and individuals are players in multiple knowledge networks, production networks and value chains across multiple geographical scales. An optimistic view suggests that an increasingly outward-looking focus stimulates knowledge flow in intra-regional networks as local tacit knowledge combines with codified knowledge transferred through ‘global pipelines’ (Bathelt et al. 2004). The most innovative firms allegedly access international sources of knowledge where they combine a strong local knowledge base with high levels of connectivity to other regions in the global network (Semlinger 2008; Mackinnon and Cumbers 2011; Belussi and Sedita 2012). However, the literature does not distinguish between the different forms of global linkages that cluster companies may establish. A timely question then is whether the cluster is able to absorb, create and utilise knowledge along all types of global linkages.
