Call for Papers - Special Issue of the European Management Review
Local inter-organizational networks, entrepreneurship and innovation between openness and closure
The system will open for submissions to the Special Issue on February 1st, 2026 and will close on April 1st, 2026.
There will be a Paper Development Workshop (both online and in person) at the 8th International Conference “Rethinking Clusters”, November 23-26, 2025, University of Vale do Itajai, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
This special issue seeks to stimulate and develop an open dialogue on the relationship between
local agglomerations of firms and inter-organizational networks, innovation and entrepreneurship. The special issue aims to focus on local contexts, that is, on those agglomerations of businesses, institutions, and individuals that, based on physical proximity, favor entrepreneurship and innovation in many different geographical contexts, fostering local wealth and growth (Belussi e Sammarra, 2005; Broekel et al. 2021; Breschi and Malerba, 2005; Huggins and Thompson, 2015). In these agglomerations, proximity favors the creation and management of a wide range of inter-organizational relationships, from informal agreements to subcontracting, from strategic alliances to joint ventures, involving entrepreneurial and large firms and local and external actors.
The field of Inter-Organizational Networks (ION), of which proximity-based networks can be considered a type (Grandori and Soda 1995), largely study the same phenomenon: how organizations collaborate and exchange resources and knowledge. From its inception, the ION literature has been applied to local contexts, considering geographic proximity an important driver of the development of economic externalities (Lorenzoni and Baden Fuller, 1995; Lorenzoni and Ferriani, 2008; Balland et al., 2022). Initially, applications focused on districts and then extended to other geographic agglomerations, such as clusters, technology parks, incubators, accelerators, ecosystems and, more recently, open labs such as living labs, fab labs, makerspaces, and co-working spaces.
Notwithstanding the many past successes, criticisms and challenges have been highlighted by researchers and practitioners. While collaborative relationships and networks are considered vital conduits to access essential resources, information, and knowledge accessible from external actors, research has shown that obstacles still exist to open the firm’s innovation process to external knowledge and a “dark side” of openness on behalf of innovation, intended as risks, costs, and failures met by firms, exists (Dabic et al, 2023). Space and place-based IONs notoriously also imply a ‘dark side’ in their tendency to ‘closure’, rather than ‘openness’ (Grabher 1993; Presutti et al, 2019). Moreover, criticism has arisen regarding the assumption that knowledge is evenly diffused within clusters and industrial districts (Fitjar and RodríguezPose, 2017), highlighting the relevance of the structural configuration of local networks and the differentiated capacity of firms to leverage central positions within them (Giuliani and Bell, 2005). Globalization, increasing competitive pressures, and the development of digital technologies have been challenging the sustainability and the resilience of local ION, but proximity and place are still considered relevant for firms and organizations.
Welcoming new theoretical and empirical contributions, we aim to deepen the understanding of how collaboration dynamics, network structures, and local embeddedness affect innovation and entrepreneurship in spatially concentrated business environments. We invite papers that investigate how local economic and social structures influence collaborative outcomes and how networks evolve in response to internal and external pressures. This special issue welcomes contributions that:
1. Examine why, how, and with what outcomes collaboration emerges in local agglomerations;
2. Investigate the micro-foundations and governance of networks in space and placebased interorganizational networks;
3. Explore the institutional and individual actors shaping innovation networks and their boundaries;
4. Provide relevant managerial and policy insights into fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in local systems.
In doing so, we invite submissions that engage with diverse contexts, themes, and theoretical perspectives. We encourage studies adopting different methodological approaches: besides case studies and quantitative datasets, we look for multi-method approaches, design-oriented works, and methods that make use of new technologies for gathering and analyzing data, such as big data-based papers or studies using mobile or virtual ethnographic methods or experiments. We also invite research from various disciplines, including but not limited to innovation, network and organizational studies, strategy, international business, entrepreneurship, and regional studies.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following ones.
- In clusters and other geographic agglomerations, lock-in effects, inertia are considered a major challenge for their sustainability (Lazzeretti et al., 2019). Studies that delve into the complexity and evolution of inter-organizational relationships are essential for understanding innovation dynamics in local ION. Organizations increasingly leverage inter-organizational networks to enhance their innovation capabilities within and across geographical contexts (Presutti et al., 2019; Broekel et al. 2021). As new technologies become increasingly vital for supporting firms' economic, environmental, and social sustainability, and amid shifting globalization, more research is needed to explore the evolution of network architectures that local firms implement to adapt.
- Firms develop innovations by simultaneously enacting different local networks and involving various external players (Capaldo, 2007; Capone & Lazzeretti, 2018; Han et al., 2020; Aalbers and Whelan, 2021; Kim et al., 2024; Hollen et al., 2013). Empirical papers could address the challenges of network embeddedness and highlight both success and failure cases of practices and governance decisions regarding innovation within and across different local networks.
- Studies on space-based ION are increasingly addressing the “twin” transition (digital and green). We invite studies that examine how collaborations and network dynamics enable the adoption of digital technologies and sustainable practices, and how these processes are embedded in local innovation systems and interfirm governance structures (Marullo et al., 2024; Cattani et al., 2025).
- Open Innovation and geographical proximity are usually contrasted even if a great deal of research has highlighted that a certain degree of spatial proximity between organizations is crucial for innovation outcomes due to its influence on the integration and creation of new knowledge (Kapetaniou & Lee, 2019). Geographic proximity facilitates other important proximities, in particular social, organizational, institutional, and cognitive proximities (Boschma 2005). More recently, the development of digital technologies has been shown to enable open innovation involving spatially distant organizations, institutions, and individuals (Linn and Maruping, 2022). The importance of spatial proximity in developing successful local IONs, along with the enabling role of digital technology in creating IONs that extend beyond local boundaries, has opened a debate and new research opportunities (Martinez-Chafer et al., 2021, Karna et al., 2013). We encourage submissions that explore this issue in various contexts.
- Research on clusters has highlighted the crucial role of local individuals who, through their actions, promote the creation and development of clusters, with an institutional impact. Their role as brokers, orchestrators, and catalysts was investigated, showing that they deployed different forms of IONs, connecting local actors among themselves and with external ones (Aversa et al. 2022; Boari and Riboldazzi, 2014; Ferriani et al., 2020; Stam and Van de Ven, 2021). Studies on local entrepreneurs and other individuals as microlevel factors of local ION emergence and development are welcome, with reference both to developed and developing economies. A critical view of entrepreneurial dynamics in local inter-organizational contexts is also welcome (Boari et al. 2016; Sydow and Schmidt, 2025).
- Decaying suburbs, small towns that are gradually being abandoned, and depopulating mountain and country areas are a growing challenge in many countries. There is evidence of local contexts where “amphibious actors” (Powell, 2017) exploiting and enhancing local, sometimes hidden resources and knowledge, combining ideas, technologies and values from different economic and cultural backgrounds, foster the emergence of local communities and other ION, redeveloping territories and fostering innovation and entrepreneurship (Ferriani et al., 2020; Dacin and Dacin, 2019). We invite researchers to share their perspectives and evidences on this relevant issue.
- Literature on leading firms (or strategic centers) in local clusters started to develop in the nineties (Lorenzoni and Baden Fuller, 1995; Lazerson and Lorenzoni, 1999; Boari and Lipparini, 1999). Since then, leading firms in clusters, following different growth strategies, have been changing their business models and the way they create and access value at the corporate level through IONs (Munari et al., 2012; Ye et al., 2020). Studies on how leading firms redesigned their IONs and the impact on innovation and entrepreneurship in local IONs are welcome.
- Recent literature has shown how private equity ownership and financialization reshape local entrepreneurial ecosystems, affect network structures, and undermine communitybased innovation (Feldman and Kenney, 2024). We are particularly interested in contributions exploring how these new actors entering the local networks impact on local entrepreneurship and leadership and on the innovation capacity of local firms.
- Similarly, we are interested in papers exploring the role of local institutions, such as local governments, banks, foundations, and associations, on entrepreneurship and innovation in clusters(Autio, 2022; Grimaldi et al., 2021; Mbtise et al., 2024).
- In the last ten years local IONs have been facing challenges brought by many exogeneous shocks intended as naturally occurring events like financial crises, pandemics, and regulatory changes. ION researchers have addressed their impact on network relations (Corbo et al 2016). Scholars interested in local networks started to investigate the impact of shocks on resilience and innovation (Hoffman et al., 2023). Papers focusing on the impact of exogenous shocks on local clusters and agglomerations are welcome.
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Guest editors
Lead Guest Editor: Cristina Boari is full professor of strategy at the Department of Management, University of Bologna. Her research interests include the relations between interorganizational networks, entrepreneurship, and innovation, with a special focus on geographical clusters and creative industries. For any query, please contact cristina.boari@unibo.it
Francesco Capone is associate professor, Department of Economics and Management, University of Florence. His research interests deal with strategy, innovation and network sciences (open innovation, inter-organisational collaborations for innovation, innovation and networks, etc.) in particular in restricted geographical contexts, such as cities, clusters and industrial districts.
Luciana Castro Gonçalves is associate professor at ESIEE Paris/Gustave Eiffel University, where she holds the responsibility of student entrepreneurship. As a researcher in innovation and co-head of the strategy, HR, and supply chain research division at Management Research Institute in France, she has been publishing in international journals on collaborative innovation within communities, clusters, living labs, and broadly in local networks within territories in France and in Brazil. She is currently leading a research project based on open social innovation, which aims at co-constructing with citizens the inclusive city of the future from the perspective of ageing populations.
Luis Martínez-Cháfer is associate professor, Department of Business Administration and Marketing, Universitat Jaume I de Castelló. His research focuses on Inter-Organizational Networks (ION), with a particular emphasis on Innovation, Knowledge Transfer, Social Capital, and Industrial Clusters. Adopting a relational perspective, his work explores how interactions between organizations shape value creation, collective learning, and regional development.
Liliana Mitkova is full professor in management, the director of Laboratory LITEM, and deputy director of the Graduate School of Economics & Management, University Paris-Saclay, France. Her research focuses on innovation and intellectual property management, with a particular interest in the valuation of invention patents within open innovation projects and the organizational changes associated with these collaborative models.