Knowledge, informal rules and localised competitiveness : a study of a local milieu in the Norwegian fish processing industry

The article analyses competitiveness in a local milieu in the Norwegian fish processing industry. It presents an contextual understanding of economic practice using an intensive research design when discussing localised factors that makes this milieu, consisting of small and medium sized firms, competitive in an international business. It emphasises assets related to untraded interdependencies between firms in this milieu, operationalised by the concept of knowledge systems and informal rules. Further, the article discusses how firms in this milieu are adapting to macro-level changes and concludes with a discussion of future challenges and limits for this local production system. The firms in this local milieu are competitive in the international business of fish trading, but constantly have to evolve in order to adapt