One or all channels for knowledge exchange in clusters? Collaboration, monitoring and recruitment networks in the subsea industry in Rogaland, Norway

Abstract

Existing research has emphasised various mechanisms for knowledge exchange in industry clusters, including inter-firm collaboration, labour mobility, and monitoring of other firms. However, these mechanisms are normally studied in isolation, and we know little about how they interrelate. This paper examines which firms collaborate within a cluster. We ask whether knowledge exchanges through other channels, specifically monitoring and labour mobility, are positively or negatively associated with collaboration. We use data from interviews with 30 firms in the subsea sector in Rogaland, Norway, representing nearly the entire population of the cluster, to examine the association between the different forms of linkages. The results from Social Network Analysis reveal an overall high degree of knowledge exchange among the organisations making up the subsea cluster. Furthermore, using Quadratic Assignment Procedure (QAP) regression analysis, we find that collaborative linkages are significantly more likely to exist between firms which share recruitment and/or monitoring linkages.