Title: The strategic and technological determinants of the structural forms of Hi-tech Clusters

Authors: Francesco Schiavone

Addresses: Faculty of Economics, Department of Business Studies, University Parthenope of Naples, Via Medina 40, 80133, Naples, Italy

Abstract: The goal of this theoretical contribution is to explain how knowledge can orient a Hi-tech Cluster (HC) towards a certain type of structural organisation. The theoretical model here proposed suggests that, at firm level, the main condition affecting the structural form of a HC is the extent to which market and technological knowledge of some lead organisations influence knowledge of the other organisational members of that network (dependency of minor cluster firms on lead companies). At industry level, technological complexity is the other critical condition orienting a HC towards a certain structural form.

Keywords: hi-tech clusters; high technology firms; dependency; knowledge; technological complexity; inter-firm relationships; organisational structure.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTE.2008.020541

International Journal of Technoentrepreneurship, 2008 Vol.1 No.3, pp.296 - 312

Published online: 29 Sep 2008 *

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