The innovation process is characterized by interactive learning involving multiple entities (Lundvall 1988). The flow and exchange of information and knowledge spurs R&D activities and innovation enhancing regions’ economic growth and competitiveness. Being aware of this process, government...

The WAEMU and the Franc CFA-Zone: A new culture of co-operation in Francophone Africa? The CFA-zone is basically composed of two sub-zones, characterised by significant structural economic and political differences within and between its member countries: the West African Economic and Monetary...

This chapter searches for common fertile ground between the disciplines of family business studies and regional studies. Most existing studies linking both disciplines are fragmented and dispersed, thereby obstructing a systematic assessment of the cross fertilisation of knowledge. Based on...

By connecting the two evolving discourses on family firms in spatial contexts and corporate spatial responsibilities, this chapter introduces a unique perspective on family firm-driven urban and regional engagement. This chapter summarizes selected existing case studies of family firm-driven...

There is both a practical and a scholarly need for the thorough examination of the nexus between family firms and economic spaces (e.g. locations, places, landscapes). The authors address this nexus through two approaches. First, they explore economic spaces’ effect on family firms by...

The management of urban and rural areas has always consisted of a mixture of state, market and civil society actors. In times of increased liberalization, deregulation and privatization of many former state-dominated tasks, limited institutional capabilities of smaller communities, a lack of...

Cumulative causation arises when a process is self-reinforcing and grows ever stronger, so that it does not equilibrate. It will continue indefinitely unless it is checked by outside intervention or leads to a crisis and systemic breakdown. Ideas of cumulative causation have numerous...

Viele Unternehmen haben ihre gesellschaftliche Verantwortung (Corporate Social Responsibility – CSR) sowohl professionalisiert als auch um die räumliche Dimension erweitert und nehmen – gerade in kleinen Städten und im ländlichen Raum – eine aktive Rolle in der Stadt- und...

This paper aims to contribute to the academic discussion in “Innovation and Creativity in Emerging Economic Spaces” in various aspects. First, we discuss the interdependences of innovative businesses with scientific institutions in neo- Marshallian industrial districts or ‘localities of...