"You Can't Make a Good Wine Without a Few Beers": Gatekeepers and knowledge flow in industrial districts
Knowledge sharing sometimes plays a key role in the performance of clustered organizations, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), however, SMEs also face significant knowledge-related disadvantages due to their lack of absorptive capacity and functional expertise. This study invest...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Elsevier
2014
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/34247 |
| _version_ | 1848754170765508608 |
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| author | Mitchell, R. Boyle, B. Burgess, John McNeil, K. |
| author_facet | Mitchell, R. Boyle, B. Burgess, John McNeil, K. |
| author_sort | Mitchell, R. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Knowledge sharing sometimes plays a key role in the performance of clustered organizations, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), however, SMEs also face significant knowledge-related disadvantages due to their lack of absorptive capacity and functional expertise. This study investigates the influence of technical specialists on knowledge flow in a wine cluster in Australia. The main contribution of this paper is a finding that the technical specialist's gatekeeping role both links clustered SMEs to the global wine “systemworld” by transferring knowledge of technical developments and innovation, and simultaneously develops and refines regional winemaking styles by sharing locally specific, experientially derived knowledge. Technical specialists drew on bridging and bonding social capital to identify and retrieve specialist knowledge, and were capable of assimilating complex technical knowledge into the cluster. These findings are particularly significant because recipients were typically small and micro-firms, which are frequently located outside cluster knowledge-network. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:36:09Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-34247 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:36:09Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-342472017-09-13T15:07:14Z "You Can't Make a Good Wine Without a Few Beers": Gatekeepers and knowledge flow in industrial districts Mitchell, R. Boyle, B. Burgess, John McNeil, K. Knowledge gatekeepers Knowledge sharing Industrial clusters Small and medium size enterprise (SME) Social capital Knowledge sharing sometimes plays a key role in the performance of clustered organizations, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), however, SMEs also face significant knowledge-related disadvantages due to their lack of absorptive capacity and functional expertise. This study investigates the influence of technical specialists on knowledge flow in a wine cluster in Australia. The main contribution of this paper is a finding that the technical specialist's gatekeeping role both links clustered SMEs to the global wine “systemworld” by transferring knowledge of technical developments and innovation, and simultaneously develops and refines regional winemaking styles by sharing locally specific, experientially derived knowledge. Technical specialists drew on bridging and bonding social capital to identify and retrieve specialist knowledge, and were capable of assimilating complex technical knowledge into the cluster. These findings are particularly significant because recipients were typically small and micro-firms, which are frequently located outside cluster knowledge-network. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/34247 10.1016/j.jbusres.2014.01.007 Elsevier restricted |
| spellingShingle | Knowledge gatekeepers Knowledge sharing Industrial clusters Small and medium size enterprise (SME) Social capital Mitchell, R. Boyle, B. Burgess, John McNeil, K. "You Can't Make a Good Wine Without a Few Beers": Gatekeepers and knowledge flow in industrial districts |
| title | "You Can't Make a Good Wine Without a Few Beers": Gatekeepers and knowledge flow in industrial districts |
| title_full | "You Can't Make a Good Wine Without a Few Beers": Gatekeepers and knowledge flow in industrial districts |
| title_fullStr | "You Can't Make a Good Wine Without a Few Beers": Gatekeepers and knowledge flow in industrial districts |
| title_full_unstemmed | "You Can't Make a Good Wine Without a Few Beers": Gatekeepers and knowledge flow in industrial districts |
| title_short | "You Can't Make a Good Wine Without a Few Beers": Gatekeepers and knowledge flow in industrial districts |
| title_sort | "you can't make a good wine without a few beers": gatekeepers and knowledge flow in industrial districts |
| topic | Knowledge gatekeepers Knowledge sharing Industrial clusters Small and medium size enterprise (SME) Social capital |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/34247 |