Strategic entrepreneurship and knowledge spillovers: spatial and aspatial perspectives

The literature in the Strategic Entrepreneurship (SE) is increasingly embracing the concept and implications of knowledge spillovers. In this paper, we add to the theoretical repertoire on SE and knowledge spillovers by investigating the types of knowledge spillovers and what they imply for various dimensions of SE. On the one hand, we distinguish between spatial and aspatial knowledge spillovers. On the other hand, we distinguish between three dimensions of SE, i.e. inputs, resource orchestration, and output. Finally, we conceptually link the various types of knowledge spillovers and dimensions of SE and discuss the implications. Doing so, we argue that spatial knowledge spillovers (inter-firm) has received the major attention in previous research in increasing the amount of ‘inputs’ dimension of SE, while the aspatial knowledge (either inter-regional or intra-firm) has been relatively neglected not only for ‘inputs’, but also for ‘resource orchestration’ dimension. At the end, the paper provides suggestions for future research.