2019/08/19 by Jakob Eder, Michaela Trippl · 6 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Cultural Industries and Urban Development #Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis #Regional resilience and development
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/grow.12328
openalex publication_date 2019/08/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Abstract Recent research has challenged the urban bias in economic geography and innovation studies, showing that highly innovative and competitive firms are also located in peripheral regions. So far, however, analyses has focused on how firms innovate despite their unfavourable location and little has been said about the innovation benefits of peripheral areas. Hence, this article identifies different compensation and exploitation strategies adopted by firms in order to overcome regional innovation constraints and to reap innovation benefits found in the periphery. Drawing on 20 in‐depth qualitative interviews with innovative firms situated in the Austrian periphery, our analysis reveals that innovation in peripheral regions is the outcome of a combination of compensation and exploitation practices. The uptake and composition of these strategies depend on the firm and regional characteristics, with firm size being the most influential factor.