Doctor of Management, Case Western Reserve University, 2011, Weatherhead School of Management

This thesis examines the nature, utilization, evolution, and effects of knowledge sharing by comparing two industrial regional bioscience clusters at different stages of development. First, by focusing on the lived experience of each cluster's local agents, and second by empirically investigating the impact of potential and realized specialized and technical knowledge on firm performance in each cluster. Although regional industrial clusters have been widely researched, the nature of knowledge creation and dissemination as a driving force for industrial cluster competitiveness remains unclear. Our research reveals that contrary to extant research, foreign direct investment (FDI) by multinational companies (MNCs) can impact the development of local entrepreneurial ecosystem, and spatial structure is not a significant factor in the knowledge creation and dissemination process in the clusters. Firm-level knowledge absorption capabilities, social networks, and knowledge spillovers mechanisms, in contrast, significantly correlate to the increased formation of specialized bio-science knowledge in clusters.

Committee: Bo Carlsson, Ph.D. (Advisor); Kalle Lyytinen, Ph.D. (Advisor); Sheri Perelli, D.M. (Advisor); Antoinette Somers, Ph.D. (Advisor) Subjects: Entrepreneurship