Abstract
Knowledge learning and diffusion have long been discussed in the literature on the dynamics of industrial clusters, but recent literature provides little evidence for how different actors serve as knowledge brokers in the upgrading process of apprentice-based clusters, and does not dynamically consider how to preserve the sustainability of these clusters. This paper uses empirical evidence from an antique furniture manufacturing cluster in Xianyou, Fujian Province, in southeastern China, to examine the growth trajectory of the knowledge learning system of an antique furniture manufacturing cluster. It appears that the apprentice-based learning system is crucial during early stages of the cluster evolution, but later becomes complemented and relatively substituted by the role of both local governments and focal outsiders. This finding addresses the context of economic transformation and provides empirical insights into knowledge acquisition in apprentice-based clusters to question the rationality based on European and North American cases, and to provide a broader perspective for policy makers to trigger and sustain the development of apprentice-based clusters.
Highlights
The emphasis on studying the knowledge management of industrial clusters has gradually shifted to cluster knowledge transference and knowledge channels in knowledge networks [1]
This paper examines an antique furniture manufacturing cluster in rural China, which could be projected as a continuation of such scholarly tendencies
Boari and Riboldazzi developed the brokerage typology, including the coordinator, representative, the gatekeeper, the liaison and the cosmopolitan [52]
Summary
The emphasis on studying the knowledge management of industrial clusters has gradually shifted to cluster knowledge transference and knowledge channels in knowledge networks [1]. The greatest challenge faced by ABCs is the closure of kinship knowledge learning systems To open up this closed knowledge system, it is urgent for ABCs to update their knowledge learning systems by means of a knowledge broker capable of building new knowledge channels and of reconstructing the regional advantages of ABCs. Above all, this paper would contribute to the debate surrounding China’s current economic transition from “made in China” to “create in China” from the standpoint of knowledge learning system changes on ABCs. Above all, this paper would contribute to the debate surrounding China’s current economic transition from “made in China” to “create in China” from the standpoint of knowledge learning system changes on ABCs It addresses the following research questions: (1) How to break the relatively closed knowledge system of an ABC through knowledge brokers, while still preserving the sustainability of a traditional ABC within the context of economic transformation in emerging economies like China?
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