Michael Slavensky Dahl

I am very much honored to receive the Spar Nord Foundation Research Award 2005 based on my PhD thesis, “Knowledge Diffusion and Regional Clusters: Lessons from the Danish ICT Industry” and the journal publications coming from this thesis.

The Spar Nord Foundation gives this annual research award to particularly outstanding doctoral work completed at Aalborg University by a young researcher.

• Read the official press release (in Danish)
• Read the news on the CTIF web page (in English)

I have released a new DRUID working paper co-authored with Christian Ø. R. Pedersen and Bent Dalum. It is called "Entrepreneurial Founder Effects in the Growth of Regional Clusters " and it is a focused and improved version of our case study of spin-offs in the wireless communication industry around Aalborg in North Denmark from 2003.

Abstract

How can the growth of regional clusters be explained? This paper studies in great detail the growth of the wireless communication cluster in Northern Denmark. Unlike the dominant theories, we argue that initial success of the first firms are the main driving force behind the generation of new firms that eventually lead to the formation of clusters. The success of the first firms tend to generate spinoffs, which becomes successful themselves due to the background of the founders.

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Michael S. Dahl and Christian Ø. R. Pedersen (now Christian R. Østergaard)

Whether social networks diffuse knowledge across firm boundaries has been the topic of much debate. To inform these theories, this article considers two questions. First, who has contacts across firm boundaries? And second, when do these relations diffuse knowledge? Our empirical evidence comes from a survey of 346 engineers in the wireless communication industry around Aalborg in Northern Denmark. Our analysis finds that social contact between these engineers is frequent and is used to diffuse knowledge that receivers find useful. More experienced engineers are more likely to receive valuable knowledge from their networks. These findings show that the long-term relationships, which are more likely based on trust and reputation, are also more likely to be a channel valuable knowledge.

Michael S. Dahl and Christian Ø. R. Pedersen (2005), “Social Networks in the R&D Process: The Case of the Wireless Communication Industry Around Aalborg, Denmark”, Journal of Engineering and Technology Management. Vol. 22, No. 1-2, pp. 75-92. ISSN: 0923-4748. [DOI Link]