ABSTRACT
In these days nobody would resist the contention that learning and innovation are key determinants of competitiveness and growth of nations, regions, clusters and firms. Sometimes, more refined observers would stress that competitiveness is affected by firm-specific attitudes and actions and also by the industrial, organizational, meso-and macroeconomic contexts in which firms are inserted. Yet, these ideas need to be integrated and encompassed in a consistent fashion, this has been achieved only occasionally, and perhaps more effectively by business scholars than by conventional economists.
