ABSTRACT
Knowledge economies The origins of this book can be traced back to 1996 and an ESRC-funded project that involved interviews with over 40 manufacturing firms. This project’s focus was on management consultancy firms, but design was identified during these interviews as a key business process (Bryson, 1997). Over the intervening years, we have produced a series of publications that have explored the relationship between design and geography (Bryson, 1997; Bryson et al., 2004, 2008; Bryson and Rusten, 2006, 2008; Bryson and Taylor, 2010a; Rusten and Bryson, 2007, 2010a; Rusten et al., 2007). Our exploration into the relationship between geography and design has been driven by an interest in products and people. Economic geography has become too preoccupied with exploring production chains or networks and has had a tendency to neglect products – the network has become more important than the product. The firm and its assets (history, designs, patents, brands, place-based associations etc.) have become less important than individuals positioned in relational networks. The literature on learning firms or the knowledge economy is one that highlights the importance of knowledge, creativity and expertise, but it makes very few, if any, reference to products. Companies have been transformed into relational constructions of social networks and actors embedded in networks rather than as structures or legal entities that have one primary purpose: to create profit through the design, development and sale of products (goods and services and hybrid products).
