Knowledge cities: a taxonomy for analyzing software and information service clusters

PAULO BASTOS TIGRE, RENATA LEBRE LA ROVERE, FRANCISCO LIMA TEIXEIRA, ANDRÉS LÓPEZ, DANIELA RAMOS, NÉSTOR BERCOVICH, ALESSANDRO DE ORLANDO MAIA PINHEIRO, SILVIO ARAÚJO, RICARDO FURTADO RODRIGUES

RAE

Revista de Administracao de Empresas

Año: 2011 vol. 51 p. 15 - 26

0034-7590

Software and information services (SIS) have become a field of increasing opportunities for international trade due to the worldwide diffusion of a combination of technological and organizational innovations. In several regions, the software industry is organized in clusters, usually referred to as “knowledge cities” because of the growing importance of knowledgeintensive services in their economy. This paper has two primary objectives. First, it raises three major questions related to the attractiveness of different cities in Argentina and Brazil for hosting software companies and to their impact on local development. Second, a new taxonomy is proposed for grouping clusters according to their dominant business segment, ownership pattern and scope of operations. The purpose of this taxonomy is to encourage further studies and provide an exploratory analytical tool for analyzing software clusters.