Competitiveness, Localised Learning and Regional Development

Peter Maskell is Professor in Regional Economics at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. Heikki Eskelinen is an economist and Head of the Social Science Department at the Karelian Institute, University of Joensuu, Finland. Ingjaldur Hannibalsson is Associate Professor in Operations Management in the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at the University of Iceland. Anders Malmberg is Associate Professor at the Department of Social and Economic Geography, Uppsala University, Sweden. Eirik Vatne is Professor in Economic Geography at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Bergen, Norway.

• Preface 1 Regional specialisation and localised learning—An introduction PART I Ubiquitification, knowledge and localised capabilites 2 Sustainable patterns of specialisation in a globalised economy 3 Firm competitiveness through knowledge creation 4 Localised capabilities and the competitiveness of regions and countries PART II Small countries, localised learning and lack of learning: the cases of furniture, fish and phones 5 Small nations: how to sustain prosperity in open, low-tech economies 6 Comfort and competitiveness: the wooden furniture industry 7 Natural resources and the institutional endowment: the fishing industry 8 Footloose communications: the mobile phone industry PART III Conclusions and policy implications 9 Towards a learning-based industrial and regional policy