Hidden champions in rural Germany
Lukas Vonnahme, Thilo Lang
Abstract
In the field of economic geography, there is much evidence that innovation occurs more readily in cities, while rural or peripheral areas are deemed disadvantaged. However, emerging research about innovation outside of agglomerations and recent criticism of urban-biased perspectives challenge established assumptions on the relation of innovation and space and dominant formats of knowledge creation. Innovation is increasingly conceptualised as a knowledge-driven, interactive, and multi-local process connecting spatially dispersed networks of actors, workflows, and resources. Notions of slow innovation, mobility, and temporary proximity as well as regional and place-specific qualities challenge existing representations of rural or peripheral areas and are vital to understanding innovation activities outside of agglomerations and in rural economies in particular. Building on this theoretical progress, we present empirical research on hidden champions in Germany, which are commonly described as extraordinarily innovative companies successfully competing in global markets. First, we present the spatial distribution, innovation patterns, and modes of interaction of these enterprises to argue that the occurrence of larger, highly specialised enterprises is not primarily a phenomenon of agglomerations, at least in Germany. Second, we present findings from qualitative interviews with the representatives in enterprises to explore strategic approaches towards innovation in a comparative perspective. Findings demonstrate that rural and urban firms follow similar practices and strategies to innovate. They utilise means of a global reach for knowledge sourcing, while their local context is of less importance.