Stig-Erik Jakobsen

• Professor at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

Denne antologien belyser temaet rural konkurransekraft gjennom ulike vitenskapelige bidrag fra forskere ved flere norske utdannings- og forskningsinstitusjoner. Økonomisk utvikling på rurale steder blir i de ulike undersøkt diskutert medutgangspunkt i ulike fagtradisjoner, og boken trekker ut viktige innsikter på tvers av ulike fagdisipliner og per...

Studies of industrial path development, a literature strongly influenced by evolutionary economic geography and systems of innovation theorizing, have an analytical focus on how interplays between actors, networks, and institutions, what we term social contingencies, shape industrial development in geographic areas. Tying into earlier calls in the...

During COVID-19, the Norwegian Government provided compensation to amend firms’ decreased revenues, yet it should be neutral and tailored to losses only. However, firm resources or institutional factors may have influenced the compensation, which we study here. Survey data showed a high probability of compensation among large firms, although they w...

Previous research has shown that Norwegian aquaculture firms strongly emphasize environmental and social sustainability, and this study aims to assess if the pattern is consistent across the value chain and consistent independent of suppliers’ amount of sales to fish farming. Also, it studies if value chain position and sales to fish farming are as...

Norwegian data show that from 2018 to 2020, enterprises in densely populated regions increased R&D investments relative to those in sparsely populated regions, but not from 2016 to 2018. Therefore, COVID-19 likely induced the shift. The findings imply that densely populated regions have become more R&D-intensive, while sparsely populated regions ha...

Background: There has been a strong focus on environmental sustainability in the aquaculture industry, but we do not know how firms in this industry emphasize the issue compared to firms in other industries. Methods: Responding to this research gap, we compared survey data of Norwegian firms in the (1) aquaculture industry with those in the (2) man...

This paper's major focus is to study if firms' emphasis on environmental and social sustainability has impacted how they have been affected by and responded to COVID-19. A survey of Norwegian firms across industries shows that those emphasizing environmental and social sustainability have had a relatively strong response to COVID-19, albeit not hav...

Departing from evolutionary economic geography, the objective of the article is to reveal the dynamics of institutional work by regional key actors with a need to achieve green restructuring in regions dependent on the oil and gas industry. The authors combine quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate how, why, and when regional stakehold...

Norway is the largest producers of aquaculture salmon in the world, and the Bergen region is the centre of Norwegian salmon production. In this article we explore the opportunities and obstacles in introducing cell-based seafood as a new related industry niche in the region through coevolution with the established salmon farming industry. Introduci...

This paper introduces an analytical framework for understanding how specialized and diversified regional innovation system (RIS) differ in the way an entrepreneurial discovery process (EDP) is likely to unfold. To analytically explore the proposed framework, we deploy a sequential explanatory design approach, using quantitative data to analyze the...

Combining insights from evolutionary economic geography and socio-technical transition studies, this article provides a conceptual framework and a theory-informed empirical analysis of policy dimensions for regional green restructuring. The combination of these two perspectives allows the application and confrontation of analytical concepts with th...

We study whether business incubator management collaboration with R&D milieus affects incubated entrepreneurs to also collaborate with R&D milieus in different regional contexts. Empirically, we analyse 281 Norwegian entrepreneurs in 32 different business incubators. Incubator collaboration with R&D milieus increases entrepreneur collaboration with...

The aim of this paper has been to explore, in depth, the place-based conditions enabling and constraining the directionality of responsible innovation in the Tasmanian salmon farming industry, and to discuss how this case can inform the broader literature on directionality of innovations. Theoretically, we argue that the combination of literature o...

Sammendrag Med utgangspunkt i en bedriftssurvey analyserer kapitlet karakteristikker ved bedrifter i norsk naeringsliv som introduserer grønne innovasjoner. Signifikante karakteristikker ved de grønne innovatørene er at de har en åpen bedriftskultur, internasjonalt samarbeid og koblinger til andre bransjer. Det kan også synes som om det å ha en god...

Theoretically and conceptually, evolutionary economic geography has paid little attention to technological characteristics when explaining the emergence of new industries. Building on the literature on technological innovation systems, the article develops a framework for investigating interconnections between territorial dynamics and technological...

Today, there is strong pressure for firms, in Norway and abroad, to adopt green or sustainable strategies. Furthermore, many Norwegian firms, directly or indirectly dependent on the dominating but declining petroleum sector, face a further challenge as they have to enter new industries in search of market opportunities. We address these dual challe...

The purpose of the article is to assess whether an entrepreneurial causation or effectuation logic is a function of geographical location in densely populated economic regions versus sparsely populated economic regions. A causation logic implies that the entrepreneur primarily focuses on a predefined goal and further aims to identify the means to r...

In the last decade, Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) has earned a prominent position in policy spheres by offering forward-looking approaches and a framework for reflecting on the societal impact of research and innovation. Nevertheless, RRI remains an immature and relatively narrow area of inquiry, with a top-down approach and guided by s...

We study whether regional, national, and international inter-firm collaboration complement or substitute for enterprise R&D investments as drivers of product innovation. Analysing a large-scale dataset of 6,584 Norwegian enterprises, we find that for enterprises without R&D investments, regional collaboration, in particular, has a positive innovati...

The article discusses mechanisms and policy that stimulate regional economic restructuring. Economic restructuring is conceptualised through the notion of path development. The article distinguishes four types of path development: the extension and upgrading of existing regional industries are two types, diversification of existing industries and t...

Despite that previous studies have examined factors that affect location decisions of enterprise R&D investments, they have not investigated if regional industry structures play a role. Responding to this research gap, we analyse data from Norway and find that location in regions with unrelated, diversified, and fragmented industry structures incre...

Research exploring interplays between innovation systems and policy have argued that the literature on regional innovation systems (RIS) should consider how policy at different levels contributes toward RIS evolution. Seeing RIS through a social capital perspective and linking this to evolutionary reasoning, we develop an analytical framework addre...

The New Zealand salmon farming industry is building its salmon. farming brand on a green image of a clean industry, operating in pristine. environments and thus producing a high-quality premium product. The paper. pursues the discursive dynamics behind this green profile by investigating how different stakeholders reveal industry related risk perce...

This special issue is devoted to studying mechanisms that may stimulate or hamper the renewal of existing industry paths and the growth of new paths. In this guest editorial, we look closely at the role of policy instruments in situations where the majority of regional industries are embedded in strong regional and/or national innovation systems. T...

The objective of the paper is to analyse why some firms innovate while others do not. The paper combines different theories of innovation by relating innovation to internal, firm specific assets and external, regional factors. Hypotheses are derived from theories and tested empirically by using logistic regression. The empirical analysis indicates...

This study introduces a social science informed technology approach to move towards a more comprehensive understanding of industry renewal. We achieve this through an evolutionary perspective scrutinising how materiality and discourse interact in an ongoing technology greening programme within the salmon farming industry in Norway. The empirical pa...

The conceptual framework of local buzz and global pipelines has received much attention. It suggests that regional collaboration (local buzz) in particular will induce value creation if combined with international collaboration (global pipelines). Here, we analyze national data from Norway and find that both regional and international collaboration...

For more than two decades, cluster theory has served as a basis for widespread implementation of regional development policies in several countries. However, there are still persistent struggles in academia towards agreement on clear operational definitions of a cluster. In this article, we argue that this definitional haziness, reflected by diffic...

The article addresses the question of how an innovative firm develops from being a first mover to an innovation laggard and whether this process can be reversed. Informed by the evolutionary perspective and path-dependence theory, the authors explore how a low-tech Norwegian firm in the oil and gas industry has lost its foothold as an innovator. Th...

Consistent with Marshallian/Porterian theories, the Norwegian cluster policy has been linked to the development of specialized regional industry environments. Cluster projects are relatively sector-specific entities often supporting (already) strong regional industries and sectors. Following a review of the current literature on clusters and innova...

We conduct multilevel analyses of Norwegian data and find that related industrial variety is a positive regional driver of enterprise innovation. Unrelated variety is a negative regional driver of enterprise productivity. This implies that regions with high levels of related variety and low levels of unrelated variety optimize enterprise performanc...

Consistent with Marshallian/Porterian theories, the Norwegian cluster policy has been linked to the development of specialized regional industry environments. Cluster projects are relatively sector-specific entities often supporting (already) strong regional industries and sectors. Following a review of the current literature on clusters and innova...

Although the topic of destination development has received much attention, there has been a limited focus on how the composition of an industry structure can influence growth in a tourism region. In this research note we will argue that a tourism destination in a region with abundant related variety (where firms operate in different industries shar...

The purpose of this short study was to identify the drivers of export orientation of firms in the subsea oil and gas industry in Western Norway. As the oil fields in the North Sea are approaching a stage of maturity, gaining knowledge of these drivers is crucial. An online survey was conducted of firms operating in the subsea oil and gas industry i...

Scholars taking the evolutionary perspective argue that technologies, competence and institutions on successful paths may spill over to related industry initiatives and subsequent industry paths. The notion of co-evolution has been introduced as an analytical category for such interconnectivity. In this article, we investigate the development of sa...

The objective of the article is to investigate innovation collaboration among firms in different types of regions in Norway. Informed by literature on innovation network and regional development, the authors examine whether firms in some regions participate more frequently in innovation collaboration than firms in other regions. They also discuss r...

This chapter discusses the connection between changing ideas for regional policy formulation in Norway and Spain taking on a “scalar politics” framework. The analysis demonstrates that regional industrial policies are rooted in processes of downscaling in Norway and upscaling in Spain, while rescaling of regional policy away from being primarily a...

The objective of the article is to investigate innovation collaboration among firms in different types of regions in Norway. Informed by literature on innovation network and regional development, the authors examine whether firms in some regions participate more frequently in innovation collaboration than firms in other regions. They also discuss r...

From a theoretical perspective, it is possible to enhance the innovation of firms and institutions by combining the analytic (scientific) knowledge base of research and development (R&D) institutions with the synthetic (practical) knowledge base of industries. Such combinations of knowledge are also believed to support regional development. One suc...

Policy instruments evolve over time. The authors elaborate on the development of an important initiative in regional policy in Norway, referred to as ‘the restructuring instrument’. The Norwegian Government established the instrument in 1983, and it is still used as a means for addressing job losses in key industries in rural areas. The authors des...

This article offers a critical reading of theories on embeddedness emphasised in discussions focusing on innovation in rural areas. A striking characteristic of current innovation studies is a strong emphasis on innovation as a process of interactive learning, characterised by continuous internal and external feedback involving all stakeholder grou...

The aim of this paper is to contribute to an understanding of clusters, including both the material and discursive dynamism of cluster construction, and shed light on how clusters—once established—affect the actors, institutions and processes that constitute them. It does this by viewing clusters as an actant, i.e. something that acts or to which a...

Studies of agglomerations and clusters in economic geography anticipate strong interdependency between firms and places. However, despite the extensive literature, we lack a coherent micro-theoretical foundation. The relationship between the rationales and practices of firms remains somewhat unspecified. In this article, we analyse the diversity of...

Despite being promoted as a fresh start, new innovation programmes tend to inherit structures and procedures from previous initiative. The authors examine the regional implementation of the Norwegian VRI programme (Programme for Regional R&D and Innovation). Using insights from evolutionary theory, they elaborate on the coexistence of continuity an...

Political regulation has traditionally been regarded as antagonistic to innovation, whereas the removal of regulations has been perceived as a precondition for innovations. This paper proposes an alternative position and claim that regulations can have various connections with the innovation process. Regulations can obviously restrict innovations,...

Political regulation has traditionally been regarded as antagonistic to innovation, whereas the removal of regulations has been perceived as a precondition for innovations. This paper proposes an alternative position and claim that regulations can have various connections with the innovation process. Regulations can obviously restrict innovations,...

Recent contributions within the system of innovation approach are marked by an instrumentalism that views innovation as a predictable and standardized process that in most aspects counters theories and empirical observations stressing the multilevel, spontaneous and complex features of innovation. Informed by the relational turn within economic geo...

This study investigates the transformation of the political regulation of the Norwegian aquaculture industry. The study is conducted as a historical-institutional analysis of industrial development combined with analyses of the multiple impacts of directives produced by changes in international political institutions. We describe a transformation f...

Since the beginning of the 1970s, fish farming has developed to one of the most important industries of coastal Norway. During this period, political regulation has to some extent been a structuring factor in this development. Three phases are distinguished in the political regulation of the industry. The first phase is the constitution of a regula...

The article departs from the observation that Norway's men's top football clubs, in contrast to clubs in most other countries, are not permitted to organize as pure public limited companies (plcs). The clubs are organized as voluntary associations, but since 1992, top clubs have developed contractual relationships with plcs to attract investments f...

One of the most significant recent elements of restructuring in rural areas is the transition from an economy based on agricultural production to an economy based on the countryside as a form of commodity. In this transition process, different narratives or images of an area are produced to promote villages and other places in the countryside as co...

The extant literature suggests that a mutual dependency exists between head office location and the location of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) in major cities and capital regions. This is often referred to as a joint head-office-corporate-service complex. However, few studies have looked into the functioning and outcomes of these comp...

Since the early 1900s, foreign direct investments (FDs) have greatly affected Norwegian society, especially peripheral communities. This article analyses how transnational corporations (TNCs) use territory down to the local level, and how this complex relationship between firms and spaces is shaped by attributes related to the TNC and the character...

How can we understand head office location in a knowledge-intensive urban economy? This is the basic question addressed in this paper. Even if proximity is important in understanding location, a study must also emphasise the multiplicity of connections that surpass the cluster or city level, which are critical for the operation of the head office....

This article challenges the idea that headquarter-subsidiary relations of multinational corporations (MNCs) are purely hierarchical, represented by the traditional understanding of MNCs, or purely decentralized, as stated in some recent literature. The degree of autonomy of subsidiaries varies between MNCs, and this heterogeneity reflects differing...

The extant literature suggests that a mutual dependency exists between head office location and the location of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) in major cities and capital regions. This is often referred to as a joint head-office–corporate-service complex. However, few studies have looked into the functioning and outcomes of these comp...

This article addresses how the economic organization and evolution of industrial clusters is affected by how firms are embedded in social fields - dense agent networks with shared rules of conduct, coordinating interfirm relations. The article points out that while clusters represent a local form of economic organiza- tion, they do not depend solel...

The fish-processing industry, one of the most important industries of coastal Norway, consists of approximately 500 firms employing 12,500 people. This article draws attention to the regional specialisation of the Norwegian fish-processing industry. Changes in the level of activity and in profitability at the regional level can to a large extent be...

ABSTRACT The internationalisation of the ,western economy ,in recent ,years implies cross- border investments ,and an increasing ,number ,of firms ,with production in more than one country. The exploitation of natural resources has traditionally been the main reason why foreign firms have been investing in non-metropolitan Norway. This article disc...

This article develops theoretical concepts for the understanding of local capitalism and uses these concepts in an empirical analysis of local capitalism in Norwegian fish farming. Despite the increasing globalization in the inter-national economy, local conditions still, to some extent, structure the strategies of firms. An intensive study of two...

This paper argues for a stronger emphasis on spatial micro-macro relations when analysing the relations between culture and competitiveness in local production systems. The term "glocal" is applied to emphasise this micro-macro dialectics, and the paper suggests a methodology to capture such dialectics. It also discusses how untraded assets and ins...