From One Place to Another – Place Attendance as Resources for Innovators

Étienne Capron; Raphaël Suire

doi:10.37725/mgmt.2024.9048

Étienne Capron Mosaic – Pôle Créativité Et Innovation, HEC Montréal, Montréal, Canada; and Groupe de Recherche Angevin en Economie et Management (Granem), Universite D’angers, Angers, France https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1413-6879
Raphaël Suire Mosaic – Pôle Créativité Et Innovation, HEC Montréal, Montréal, Canada; Laboratoire d’économie et de management Nantes-Atlantique (Lemna), IAE Nantes; and Chemin de la Censive du Tertre, Nantes, France https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1735-9709

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37725/mgmt.2024.9048

Keywords: Places, Innovation, Creative industries, Preferential circulations, Montreal

Abstract

Despite a growing interest for places in management research, it remains unclear how the attendance of multiple places by innovators contributes to the innovation process. We propose a new perspective in which innovators attend distinct places that provide them plural resources, and that it is their combination that supports innovation. Based on this proposition, we study the case of projection mapping in Montreal (Canada) as an illustration for creative and cultural industries. We show that the number and types of places attended evolves in the different stages of the innovation process, and that actors are not homogeneous in their attendance. These evolutions are captured with the concept of preferential circulations we introduce to capture the patterns of attendance of places by innovators. Through this, we offer a new lens to the study and the management of innovation through places.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Étienne Capron, Mosaic – Pôle Créativité Et Innovation, HEC Montréal, Montréal, Canada; and Groupe de Recherche Angevin en Economie et Management (Granem), Universite D’angers, Angers, France

Étienne Capron is post‑doctoral researcher at Mosaic – pôle créativité et innovation, HEC Montréal, and associate researcher at the Chaire de recherche du Canada en économie créative et mieux‑être. His research focuses on the spatial dimension of organizational and innovation processes, particularly in the arts.

Raphaël Suire, Mosaic – Pôle Créativité Et Innovation, HEC Montréal, Montréal, Canada; Laboratoire d’économie et de management Nantes-Atlantique (Lemna), IAE Nantes; and Chemin de la Censive du Tertre, Nantes, France

Raphaël Suire is professor of innovation management at IAE, Nantes University, researcher at Lemna (Laboratoire d’économie et de management Nantes-Atlantique) and associate researcher at Mosaic – pôle créativité et innovation, HEC Montréal. His research focuses on the analysis of the spatial and social determinants of innovation and creativity, with particular attention to the production of novelty in a digital context.

References

Andrews, M. (2019). Bar talk: Informal social interactions, alcohol prohibition, and invention (SSRN Scholarly Paper ID 3489466). Social Science Research Network. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3489466

Barabási, A.-L. & Albert, R. (1999). Emergence of scaling in random networks. Science, 286(5439), 509–512. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.286.5439.509

Bathelt, H. & Glückler, J. (2005). Resources in economic geography: From substantive concepts towards a relational perspective. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 37(9), 1545–1563. https://doi.org/10.1068/a37109

Bélanger, A. (2015). Le projet du Quartier des spectacles à Montréal : Une mise en scène de la nouvelle économie culturelle ? In M. Roy-Valex & G. Bellavance (Eds.), Arts et territoires à l’ère du développement durable. Vers une nouvelle économie culturelle ? (pp. 131–149). Presses de l’Université Laval.

Berg, J. M. (2022). One-hit wonders versus hit makers: Sustaining success in creative industries. Administrative Science Quarterly, 67(3), 367–403. https://doi.org/10.1177/00018392221083650

Besson, R. (2018). Les tiers-lieux culturels: Chronique d’un échec annoncé. L’Observatoire, 52(2), 17–21. https://doi.org/10.3917/lobs.052.0017

Beyes, T. & Holt, R. (2020). The topographical imagination: Space and organization theory. Organization Theory, 1(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/2631787720913880

Boschma, R. (2005). Proximity and innovation: A critical assessment. Regional Studies, 39(1), 61–74. https://doi.org/10.1080/0034340052000320887

Broekel, T. & Binder, M. (2007). The regional dimension of knowledge transfers – A behavioral approach. Industry and Innovation, 14(2), 151–175. https://doi.org/10.1080/13662710701252500

Buchholz, M. (2019). Organizations, institutions and networks in local scenes: The growth of San Francisco Bay Area punk rock. Geoforum, 103, 158–166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2019.04.019

Callon, M. (1986). Éléments pour une sociologie de la traduction : La domestication des coquilles Saint-Jacques et des marins-pêcheurs dans la baie de Saint-Brieuc. L’Année sociologique (1940/1948-), 36, 169–208. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27889913

Capdevila, I., Cohendet, P. & Simon, L. (2018). From a local community to a global influence. How elBulli restaurant created a new epistemic movement in the world of haute cuisine. Industry and Innovation, 25(5), 526–549. https://doi.org/10.1080/13662716.2017.1327844

Capron, E. (2022). La fabrique des innovations techno-créatives. Le concept des circulations préférentielles comme nouvel outil de gestion [Doctoral dissertation]. Université d’Angers.

Capron, E., Sagot-Duvauroux, D. & Suire, R. (2022). Anatomy of a techno-creative community – The role of brokers, places, and events in the emergence of projection mapping in Nantes. European Planning Studies, 30(9), 1755–1776. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2021.1959901

Cattani, G., Ferriani, S. & Lanza, A. (2017). Deconstructing the outsider puzzle: The legitimation journey of novelty. Organization Science, 28(6), 965–992. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2017.1161

Caves, R. E. (2002). Creative industries: Contracts between art and commerce (1st paperback ed.). Harvard University Press.

Chapain, C. & Comunian, R. (2010). Enabling and inhibiting the creative economy: The role of the local and regional dimensions in England. Regional Studies, 44(6), 717–734. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343400903107728

Cheng, Y.-T. & Van de Ven, A. H. (1996). Learning the innovation journey: Order out of chaos? Organization Science, 7(6), 593–614. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.7.6.593

Cohendet, P., Grandadam, D. & Simon, L. (2010). The anatomy of the creative city. Industry and Innovation, 17(1), 91–111. https://doi.org/10.1080/13662710903573869

Cohendet, P., Grandadam, D., Simon, L. & Capdevila, I. (2014). Epistemic communities, localization and the dynamics of knowledge creation. Journal of Economic Geography, 14(5), 929–954. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbu018

Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94, S95–S120. https://doi.org/10.1086/228943

Crespo, J., Suire, R. & Vicente, J. (2014). Lock-in or lock-out? How structural properties of knowledge networks affect regional resilience. Journal of Economic Geography, 14(1), 199–219. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbt006

Cresswell, T. (2014). Place: An introduction. John Wiley & Sons.

Currid, E. (2007). The Warhol economy. How fashion, art & music drive New York City. Princeton University Press.

Damanpour, F. & Wischnevsky, J. D. (2006). Research on innovation in organizations: Distinguishing innovation-generating from innovation-adopting organizations. Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 23(4), 269–291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jengtecman.2006.08.002

Davis, G. F. & Marquis, C. (2005). Prospects for organization theory in the early twenty-first century: Institutional fields and mechanisms. Organization Science, 16(4), 332–343. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1050.0137

Dechamp, G. & Szostak, B. (2016). Organisational creativity and the creative territory: The nature of influence and strategic challenges for organisations. M@n@gement, 19(2), 61–88. https://doi.org/10.3917/mana.192.0061

de Vaujany, F.-X. & Aroles, J. (2019). Nothing happened, something happened: Silence in a makerspace. Management Learning, 50(2), 208–225. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507618811478

Eisenhardt, K. M. & Graebner, M. E. (2007). Theory building from cases: Opportunities and challenges. Academy of Management Journal, 50(1), 25–32. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2007.24160888

Fabbri, J. (2016). Unplugged – ‘Place as spatio-temporal events’: Empirical evidence from everyday life in a coworking space. M@n@gement, 19(4), 353–361. https://doi.org/10.3917/mana.194.0353

Fayard, A.-L. & Weeks, J. (2007). Photocopiers and water-coolers: The affordances of informal interaction. Organization Studies, 28(5), 605–634. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840606068310

Ferrary, M. & Granovetter, M. (2009). The role of venture capital firms in Silicon Valley’s complex innovation network. Economy and Society, 38(2), 326–359. https://doi.org/10.1080/03085140902786827

Ferru, M., Rallet, A. & Cariou, C. (2022). A topological approach to the creative city: Artists’ perceptions of cultural places in Paris. Journal of Economic Geography, 22(6), 1125–1148. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbab049

Florida, R. L. (2002). The rise of the creative class: And how it’s transforming work, leisure, community and everyday life. Basic Books.

Gibson, J. J. (1977). The theory of affordances. In R. E. Shaw & J. D. Bransford (Eds.), Perceiving, acting, and knowing: Toward an ecological psychology (pp. 67–82). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Gieryn, T. F. (2000). A space for place in sociology. Annual Review of Sociology, 26(1), 463–496. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.26.1.463

Grandadam, D., Cohendet, P. & Simon, L. (2013). Places, spaces and the dynamics of creativity: The video game industry in Montreal. Regional Studies, 47(10), 1701–1714. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2012.699191

Grillitsch, M. & Asheim, B. (2018). Place-based innovation policy for industrial diversification in regions. European Planning Studies, 26(8), 1638–1662. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2018.1484892

Guthey, G. T., Whiteman, G. & Elmes, M. (2014). Place and sense of place: Implications for organizational studies of sustainability. Journal of Management Inquiry, 23(3), 254–265. https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492613517511

Hansen, M. T. & Birkinshaw, J. (2007). The innovation value chain. Harvard Business Review, 85(6), 121–130. https://hbr.org/2007/06/the-innovation-value-chain

Hauge, A. & Hracs, B. J. (2010). See the sound, hear the style: Collaborative linkages between indie musicians and fashion designers in local scenes. Industry and Innovation, 17(1), 113–129. https://doi.org/10.1080/13662710903573893

Hautala, J. & Nordström, P. (2019). Creative city, mobility, and creativity: Finnish artists in Berlin. Mobilities, 14(6), 859–874. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2019.1616445

Hess, M. (2004). ‘Spatial’ relationships? Towards a reconceptualization of embeddedness. Progress in Human Geography, 28(2), 165–186. https://doi.org/10.1191/0309132504ph479oa

Hirsch, P. M. (1972). Processing fads and fashions: An organization-set analysis of cultural industry systems. American Journal of Sociology, 77(4), 639–659. https://doi.org/10.1086/225192

Hussenot, A. (2021). All for one, one for all! From events to organizational dynamics in fluid organization. M@n@gement, 24(2), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.37725/mgmt.v24.4534

Jones, C., Svejenova, S., Pedersen, J. S. & Townley, B. (2016). Misfits, mavericks and mainstreams: Drivers of innovation in the creative industries. Organization Studies, 37(6), 751–768. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840616647671

Kloosterman, R. C. (2014). Cultural amenities: Large and small, mainstream and niche – A conceptual framework for cultural planning in an age of austerity. European Planning Studies, 22(12), 2510–2525. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2013.790594

Koestler, A. (1964). The act of creation. Hutchinson & Co.

Lampel, J., Lant, T. & Shamsie, J. (2000). Balancing act: Learning from organizing practices in cultural industries. Organization Science, 11(3), 263–269. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.11.3.263.12503

Lampel, J. & Meyer, A. D. (2008). Field-configuring events as structuring mechanisms: How conferences, ceremonies, and trade shows constitute new technologies, industries, and markets. Journal of Management Studies, 45(6), 1025–1035. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2008.00787.x

Lawrence, T. B. & Dover, G. (2015). Place and institutional work: Creating housing for the hard-to-house. Administrative Science Quarterly, 60(3), 371–410. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001839215589813

Leclair, M. (2023). The atmospherics of creativity: Affective and spatial materiality in a designer’s studio. Organization Studies, 44(5), 807–829. https://doi.org/10.1177/01708406221080141

Le Nadant, A.-L., Marinos, C. & Krauss, G. (2018). Les espaces de coworking : Le rôle des proximités dans les dynamiques collaboratives. Revue française de gestion, 44(272), 121–137. https://doi.org/10.3166/rfg.2018.00233

Le Thomas, C. (2016). Racines populaires du cubisme : Pratiques ordinaires de création et art savant. Les presses du réel.

March, J. G. (1991). Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning. Organization Science, 2(1), 71–87. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2.1.71

Marshall, A. (1919). Industry and trade: A study of industrial technique and business organization, and of their influences on the conditions of various classes and nations. Macmillan and Co.

Montanari, F., Scapolan, A. & Gianecchini, M. (2016). ‘Absolutely free’? The role of relational work in sustaining artistic innovation. Organization Studies, 37(6), 797–821. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840616647419

Muller, P., Szostak, B. L. & Burger-Helmchen, T. (2020). Le rôle d’intermédiation des activités entrepreneuriales du middleground dans la circulation des idées créatives. Le cas du krautrock. Revue Internationale P.M.E., 33(3–4), 139–168. https://doi.org/10.7202/1074812ar

Murzyn-Kupisz, M. & Działek, J. (2021). Immersion in buzz or withdrawal to solitude? Artists’ creative and social strategies in urban settings. City & Community, 20(2), 160–184. https://doi.org/10.1177/1535684120981022

Oberlin, K. C. & Gieryn, T. F. (2015). Place and culture-making: Geographic clumping in the emergence of artistic schools. Poetics, 50, 20–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2015.01.001

Paris, T. & Massé, D. (2021). Le management des industries créatives : Un paradigme spécifique et des configurations organisationnelles variées. Revue Française de Gestion, 47(296), 51–63. https://doi.org/10.3166/rfg.2021.00536

Patriotta, G. & Hirsch, P. M. (2016). Mainstreaming innovation in art worlds: Cooperative links, conventions and amphibious artists. Organization Studies, 37(6), 867–887. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840615622062

Pedrini, S., Corrado, R. & Sacco, P. L. (2021). The power of local networking: Bologna’s music scene as a creative community, 1978–1992. Journal of Urban Affairs, 44(4–5), 659–682. https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2020.1863817

Perry-Smith, J. E. & Mannucci, P. V. (2017). From creativity to innovation: The social networks drivers of the four phases of the idea journey. Academy of Management Review, 42(1), 53–79. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2014.0462

Phillips, D. J. (2011). Jazz and the disconnected: City structural disconnectedness and the emergence of a jazz canon, 1897–1933. American Journal of Sociology, 117(2), 420–483. https://doi.org/10.1086/661757

Rallet, A. & Torre, A. (2004). Proximité et localisation. Économie Rurale, 280, 25–41. https://doi.org/10.3406/ecoru.2004.5470

Rantisi, N. & Leslie, D. (2010). Materiality and creative production: The case of the Mile End neighborhood in Montreal. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 42(12), 2824–2841. https://doi.org/10.1068/a4310

Roper, S., Du, J. & Love, J. H. (2008). Modelling the innovation value chain. Research Policy, 37(6–7), 961–977. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2008.04.005

Sapsed, J. & Tschang, F. T. (2014). Art is long, innovation is short: Lessons from the Renaissance and the digital age. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 83, 127–141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2013.09.014

Schroeder, R. G., Van de Ven, A. H., Scudder, G. D. & Polley, D. (2000). The development of innovation ideas. In A. H. Van de Ven, H. L. Angle & M. S. Poole (Eds.), Research on the management of innovation: The Minnesota studies (pp. 107–134). Oxford University Press.

Sergot, B. & Saives, A.-L. (2016). Unplugged – Relating place to organization: A situated tribute to Doreen Massey. M@n@gement, 19(4), 335–352. https://doi.org/10.3917/mana.194.0335

Sgourev, S. V. (2013). How Paris gave rise to Cubism (and Picasso): Ambiguity and fragmentation in radical innovation. Organization Science, 24(6), 1601–1617. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1120.0819

Sgourev, S. V. (2020). A session of disciplinary ‘fusion’. Exploring the interaction of time and space in modern art. Magazén, 1(1), 55–74. http://doi.org/10.30687/mag//2020/01/003

Sgourev, S. V. (2021). Inside out: When ideas from the core are radicalized on the periphery. In E. Schüßler, P. Cohendet & S. Svejenova (Eds.), Organizing creativity in the innovation journey (pp. 19–37). Emerald Publishing Limited.

Siggelkow, N. (2007). Persuasion with case studies. Academy of Management Journal, 50(1), 20–24. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2007.24160882

Simmel, G. (1957). Fashion. American Journal of Sociology, 62(6), 541–558. https://doi.org/10.1086/222102

Spencer, G. M. (2015). Knowledge neighbourhoods: Urban form and evolutionary economic geography. Regional Studies, 49(5), 883–898. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2015.1019846

Stake, R. E. (1995). The art of case study research. Sage.

Suire, R. (2019). Innovating by bricolage: How do firms diversify through knowledge interactions with FabLabs? Regional Studies, 53(7), 939–950. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2018.1522431

Suire, R. & Vicente, J. (2008). Théorie économique des clusters et management des réseaux d’entreprises innovantes. Revue Française de Gestion, 34(184), 119–136. https://doi.org/10.3166/rfg.184.119-136

Suire, R. & Vicente, J. (2014). Clusters for life or life cycles of clusters: In search of the critical factors of clusters’ resilience. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 26(1–2), 142–164. https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2013.877985

Tellier, A. (2021). L’adoption de l’open innovation dans l’industrie musicale. Une analyse des collectifs d’acteurs dans le rap américain. Revue Française de Gestion, 296(3), 85–106. https://doi.org/10.3166/rfg.2021.00516

Uzzi, B. & Spiro, J. (2005). Collaboration and creativity: The small world problem. American Journal of Sociology, 111(2), 447–504. https://doi.org/10.1086/432782

White, H. C. (1992). Identity and control: A structural theory of social action. Princeton University Press.

Zilber, T. B. (2018). Know thy place: Location and imagined communities in institutional field dynamics. In J. Glückler, R. Suddaby & R. Lenz (Eds.), Knowledge and institutions. Springer. Retrieved from https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gdc/gdcebookspublic.2019745587