Local Clusters in a Globalized World

Currently there is growing focus on how cluster internal and cluster external relations affect the creation of knowledge in companies placed in clusters. However, the current theories on this topic are too simple and the interplay between internal and external relations is relatively unknown.
This paper presents a case study that with the basis in the theory about tacit and explicit knowledge, the theory about communities of practice as well as parts of the theory on networks focuses on how knowledge is developed in high-tech companies placed in a cluster. Thus this case study illuminates how internal and external relations and factors affect the knowledge development.
The findings are that most of the formal relations of the case companies studied are global in reach, while most informal relations are anchored locally in the cluster. The amount of externally anchored informal relations is however rising due to advances in telecommunication technologies. This means that the information gained by the companies in informal relations is no longer just originating in the local area, a rising amount of information is reaching the case companies in informal relations anchored globally. The case study also illuminates which factors that affect the knowledge development process in communities in the case companies. By analysing the interplay between relations of different types utilized by the companies, the knowledge embedded in the persons constituting the communities as well as knowledge embedded in objects used by the communities, the case study shows that apparently a special practice has evolved in the cluster. This practice is apparently shared among the communities in the case companies, with the result that the communities possess special capabilities, they are good at developing "whole phones". An explanation about the background to this practice and its survival in the cluster is further presented using theories on knowledge and development of knowledge.