Knowledge between communities of practice and firms in clusters:global and local sources of knowledge and practice

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 in which theory about knowledge, communities of practice and networks is used to understand how knowledge is developed in high-tech companies placed in a cluster. The case study illuminates how internal and external relations and factors affect the knowledge development in a high-tech telecommunication cluster.The findings are that most of the formal relations of the case companies studied are to actors placed outside the cluster, 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 formal and informal relations 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.