Locating in a ‘Silicon Valley’ does not guarantee success for technology firms – they must also leverage knowledge and innovation globally

In a time of global economic turbulence what determines whether or not firms succeed or fail? Peng-Fei Li and Harald Bathelt take a close look at the role of clusters in fostering innovation and knowledge exchange across industries. After looking closely at clusters in Canada and China, the authors argue that to gain competitive advantage, firms need to tap into the growing global network of small, distributed knowledge pools, as well as building and maintaining close connections and interactions between their subsidiaries and headquarters.