Robert Hassink
Biographic Data
| ID | 1280428 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Robert Hassink |
| GIVEN NAMES | Robert |
| FAMILY NAME | Hassink |
| SIGNATURE | HASSINK R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7524-4577 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 60 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 671 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 60 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1993 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 14 |
Opening the geographical black box of the influencer economy
Embedding the mission-oriented approach in smart specialization strategies: An exploratory assessment
This paper explores how the mission-oriented approach (MOA) can be embedded into the existing policy framework, especially at the local level, by focusing on the specific case of smart specialization strategies (S3s). In response to mounting pressure to shift from a competitiveness-driven paradigm to one oriented at tackling societal challenges, regional innovation strategies such as S3s have increasingly claimed to incorporate MOA elements. Agai…
Unpacking the clustering of the creator with digital entrepreneurial ecosystems: Evidence from Chinese cities
Digital platforms have re-wired how value is created, distributed, and captured—yet the geography of the related Creator Economy remains poorly understood. To unpack the clustering of the creator, this study develops a creator‐friendly Digital Entrepreneurial Ecosystem (cfDEE) framework and constructs a comprehensive city‐level DEE index using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to capture the structural conditions that support creators’ entrepr…
From smile curve to wicked smile? The role of e-commerce platforms in reshaping industry value chains and empowering clusters
Rethinking path dependence and lock-ins in regions, economy and society
In our current crisis-ridden times of multiple, cascading pressures, shocks and disruptions, there is an increasingly pressing need for adaptation, flexibility and change in regions, economies, societies and policy models. However, no matter whether present-day crises have a long durée character, such as climate change and the accelerating AI Revolution, or are sudden shocks, such as the Global Financial Crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukraine…
The symbolic value of megaprojects in urban and regional development
Understanding Social Structural Change: Change Agency, Mediated Dualism and Fragmented Habitus
Agency plays a crucial role in social and economic change, especially in regional transition processes. Interpreting the influence of context on agency reflects the spatial ontology of economic geography. However, culture, as one dimension of context, is still profoundly limitedly understood within economic geography. For instance, it is often constrained to tangible cultural heritage or formal institutions. Moreover, individual-level agency has …
Exploring the mechanisms of platform empowered cluster development: Evidence from the case of Taobao villages in rural China
By studying a Chinese characteristic phenomenon, the expansion of Taobao villages at the county level, we coin the term ‘platform empowered cluster development’ (PECD). Based on cluster theory and empirical knowledge of Taobao villages, we analyse the pre-existing context, the process forces and outcome of Taobao village expansion in 50 counties with a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The following four patterns of PECD are fin…
Combinatorial knowledge dynamics and proximity analysis in the Shanghai high-end medical device industry
Combinatorial knowledge dynamics and recombinant innovation have received increasing attention. So far, however, empirical studies have insufficiently focused on how firms utilize multi-scalar sources to facilitate the combination of analytical and synthetic knowledge, which is a gap we would like to fill with the help of this paper. Through interviews with high-end medical device companies from Shanghai, this paper analyzes the role of proximity…
Advancing spatial ontology in evolutionary economic geography
Although evolutionary economic geography has been popular in economic geography, it has also been criticized for, among others, a weak geographical conceptualization, which has become evident, particularly in empirical research on related and unrelated variety. Therefore, this paper advances a spatial ontology, which is embedded in critical realism and social constructivism, and will empower evolutionary economic geography to understand and expla…
Placing the platform economy: The emerging, developing and upgrading of Taobao villages as a platform-based place making phenomenon in China
The actions of platforms and their all-inclusive impact on place development is coined platform-based place making in this article. We use the actor-network theory to analyse a typical e-commerce platform-based place making, namely the emergence, development and upgrading of Taobao villages in China, and to explore the mechanisms of platform place making power. Our study shows that platforms ‘make’ places by platform–place interactions of progres…
Fragmented or engaged pluralism in economic geography
According to some economic geographers, modern economic geography has been increasingly fragmented over the last twenty years, concerning both its themes and its paradigms. However, so far, no bibliometric analysis has been carried out to quantitatively measure the degree of fragmentation in economic geography concerning paradigms. In this paper, we therefore aim to analyze the state of the art in economic geography concerning paradigms and persp…
Differentiated knowledge bases and catch-up in creative industries – A case of the online game industry in China
Exploring Regional Innovation Policies and Regional Industrial Transformation from a Coevolutionary Perspective: The Case of Małopolska, Poland
This article aims to explain the role of regional innovation policies in regional industrial transformation (RIT) from a coevolutionary perspective. The empirical basis is the case study of Małopolska, a Polish region undergoing an industrial transformation in parallel with the launch and development of its innovation policies after the EU accession in 2004. To accomplish its purpose, our research extends the common coevolutionary theoretical fra…
Exploring the scope of regions in challenge-oriented innovation policy: The case of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Recently, challenge-oriented innovation policy has become increasingly popular in political and scientific discussions. However, the extent to which such a challenge-based thinking has entered regional policy making is relatively unclear. This paper examines the scope of the regional level in promoting challenge-based innovation, focusing on the recent renewable energy innovation policy in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The results show that while …
Strategic coupling and institutional innovation in times of upheavals: The industrial chain chief model in Zhejiang, China
For regions that are deeply integrated into the global economy, the question of how to remain competitive and resilient in times of uncertainty is a key concern. While strategic coupling is a useful concept for understanding local-global economic dynamics, the idea that a region can simultaneously couple into multiple production networks organised at different spatial scales and that regional actors can increase their autonomy by creatively combi…
Globalisation in reverse? Reconfiguring the geographies of value chains and production networks
Standing at a crossroads, where ongoing ‘slowbalisation’ coincides with new forces such as the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, heightened geopolitical tensions, the emergence of disruptive technologies and the increasing urgency of addressing environmental challenges, many important questions remain unsolved regarding the nature and impact of the current economic globalisation. This special issue on ‘Globalisation in Reverse? Reconfiguring the…
Emerging industries: Institutions, legitimacy and system-level agency
Economic geographers have studied emerging industries in regions from various perspectives, such as life cycle, evolutionary economic geography and systemic approaches. However, so far they have insufficiently conceptualized the effects of institutional structures on new industry emergence. This special issue on ‘Emerging Industries: Institutions, Legitimacy and System Building’ therefore shows recent work that seeks to advance the analysis of em…
Institutions, Chain Governance and the Predicament of Local Upgrading: A Case Study of Hangzhou's Mobile Game Industry
This article focuses on one of China's emerging creative clusters – Hangzhou's mobile game industry – and investigates the various adaptations this cluster has undergone, as well as the mechanisms underlying the industrial and geographical dynamics within the cluster. Specifically, it examines the power asymmetry of governance in the cluster, paying attention to how chain governance has been shaped by both local and national institutional context…
Regional foundations of energy transitions
Due to a spatial turn in the socio-technical transition literature, the geography of energy transitions has recently been taken increasingly seriously, leading to burgeoning research output on regional energy transitions since early 2010. Amidst this wealth of publications, however, it can be difficult to keep track of its diverse and constantly evolving landscape. This editorial therefore aims at developing a framework that allows for bringing m…
Multi-scalar knowledge bases for new regional industrial path development: Toward a typology
The topic of new regional industrial path development has recently received increasing attention in economic geography. The core idea is that actors in a specific region mobilize both intra-regional and extra-regional resources, especially knowledge, to develop a new regional industrial path. However, the extant literature has not yet fully explored how actors in different types of regions mobilize different forms of knowledge at various spatial …
Context sensitivity and economic-geographic (re)theorising
Drawing upon critical realism and the literature on theorising in social sciences, this article contributes to the understanding of theorising in economic geography by highlighting the role of context throughout the theory development process. By critically reviewing two key concepts in economic geography—related variety and knowledge bases—from a critical realist theory development perspective, scholars’ sensitivity to local context through the …
Industrial structure or agency: What affects regional economic resilience? Evidence from resource-based cities in China
Regional Resilience in Times of a Pandemic Crisis: The Case of Covid‐19 in China
The notion of resilience to analyse how fast systems recover from shocks has been increasingly taken up in economic geography, in which there is a burgeoning literature on regional resilience. Regional resilience is a place‐sensitive, multi‐layered and multi‐scalar, conflict‐ridden and highly contingent process. The nature of shocks is one important impact factor on regional resilience. Arguably, so far, most literature on regional resilience has…
Smart Specialisation strategies on the periphery: A data-triangulation approach to governance issues and practices
In spite of our current understanding of Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) design and implementation, an understanding of interrelated governance practices aimed at addressing S3 governance issues is lacking. Applying a data-triangulation approach to a large peripheral Finnish region (Lapland), the analysis suggests that S3 implementation faces two key challenges: first, the development of stakeholder networks to support diversified specializati…
Towards a comprehensive understanding of new regional industrial path development
Path creation is a key concept in economic geography. So far, particularly scholars within evolutionary economic geography have pioneered research on this topic. This paper critically discusses their work and proposes a broader understanding of how new economic activities emerge in regions, which is referred to here as ‘new regional industrial path development’. The paper develops a future research agenda, which stresses the need to develop a mul…
Advancing Evolutionary Economic Geography by Engaged Pluralism
Hassink R., Klaerding C. and Marques P. Advancing evolutionary economic geography by engaged pluralism, Regional Studies. Since 2006 economic geographers have been confronted with attempts to constitute a new paradigm of evolutionary economic geography. This paper aims at advancing evolutionary economic geography by reviewing its core critique and proposed solutions, particularly that of integrating the perspective of a geographical political eco…
Regional resilience: A promising concept to explain differences in regional economic adaptability
One of the most intriguing questions in economic geography is why some regional economies manage to renew themselves, whereas others remain locked in decline. To tackle this question, the idea of resilience has emerged building upon concepts derived from ecology, psychology, disaster studies and elsewhere. This conceptual paper aims at critically assessing whether regional resilience contributes to our understanding of regional economic adaptabil…
An Evolutionary Perspective on Tourism Area Development
Co-evolution in contemporary economic geography: Towards a theoretical framework
Although co-evolution is a key concept in contemporary economic geography because of its relevance for achieving deep contextualization and sound policy recommendations, it has not largely been taken up in recent empirical work. This is partly due to the lack of a comprehensive theoretical framework. This paper develops such a framework in which two key issues are stressed: the multi-scalarity of co-evolving populations and the nature of change. …
Path dependence and tourism area development: The case of Guilin, China
Globalisation in reverse? Reconfiguring the geographies of value chains and production networks
Standing at a crossroads, where ongoing ‘slowbalisation’ coincides with new forces such as the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, heightened geopolitical tensions, the emergence of disruptive technologies and the increasing urgency of addressing environmental challenges, many important questions remain unsolved regarding the nature and impact of the current economic globalisation. This special issue on ‘Globalisation in Reverse? Reconfiguring the…
Emerging industries: Institutions, legitimacy and system-level agency
Economic geographers have studied emerging industries in regions from various perspectives, such as life cycle, evolutionary economic geography and systemic approaches. However, so far they have insufficiently conceptualized the effects of institutional structures on new industry emergence. This special issue on ‘Emerging Industries: Institutions, Legitimacy and System Building’ therefore shows recent work that seeks to advance the analysis of em…
Place leadership with Chinese characteristics? A case study of the Zaozhuang coal-mining region in transition
Place leadership with Chinese characteristics? A case study of the Zaozhuang coal-mining region in transition. Regional Studies. Although the role of the local state in China’s regional development has been regarded as important, individual local state actors and their relation with institutional change have been under-explored. Critically exploring the Western idea of place leadership, this paper launches the notion of local state leadership as …
The End of the Learning Region as We Knew It; Towards Learning in Space
Hassink R. and Klaerding C. The end of the learning region as we knew it; towards learning in space, Regional Studies. Since its launch in the mid-1990s, the learning region has been much debated by academics and applied in regional policies, which are as such positive signs. However, the concept has also been criticized for its fuzziness and its spatial (or regional) fetishism. By applying a cultural and relational perspective, the paper postula…
Context sensitivity and economic-geographic (re)theorising
Drawing upon critical realism and the literature on theorising in social sciences, this article contributes to the understanding of theorising in economic geography by highlighting the role of context throughout the theory development process. By critically reviewing two key concepts in economic geography—related variety and knowledge bases—from a critical realist theory development perspective, scholars’ sensitivity to local context through the …
Regional foundations of energy transitions
Due to a spatial turn in the socio-technical transition literature, the geography of energy transitions has recently been taken increasingly seriously, leading to burgeoning research output on regional energy transitions since early 2010. Amidst this wealth of publications, however, it can be difficult to keep track of its diverse and constantly evolving landscape. This editorial therefore aims at developing a framework that allows for bringing m…
Regional Resilience in Times of a Pandemic Crisis: The Case of Covid‐19 in China
The notion of resilience to analyse how fast systems recover from shocks has been increasingly taken up in economic geography, in which there is a burgeoning literature on regional resilience. Regional resilience is a place‐sensitive, multi‐layered and multi‐scalar, conflict‐ridden and highly contingent process. The nature of shocks is one important impact factor on regional resilience. Arguably, so far, most literature on regional resilience has…
Industrial structure or agency: What affects regional economic resilience? Evidence from resource-based cities in China
Exploring adaptation and adaptability in uneven economic resilience: A tale of two Chinese mining regions
The aim of this article is to provide a better understanding of long-term uneven resilience by critically exploring the notions of adaptation and adaptability. Moving beyond the conventional trade-off assumption, the article proposes three main types of adaptation–adaptability relationships: Competing, Separated and Reciprocal, as an analytical approach to explain uneven regional resilience. Two empirical case studies of municipal-level mining re…
Limits to Locking-out through Restructuring: The Textile Industry in Daegu, South Korea
Cho M. and Hassink R. Limits to locking-out through restructuring: the textile industry in Daegu, South Korea, Regional Studies. The restructuring of old industrial areas is a relatively new phenomenon in the newly industrializing countries of East Asia, such as South Korea. Of the few theoretical concepts that try to explain the decline of such old industrial areas, evolutionary economic geography, in general, and the lock-in concept, in particu…
The Strength of Weak Lock-Ins: The Renewal of the Westmünsterland Textile Industry
Modern theoretical concepts in economic geography are used to try to explain the positive sides of geographical clustering of industries. Of the few theoretical concepts which are used to try to explain the negative sides of clustering, that is, the decline of old industrial areas, evolutionary regional economics, in general, and the lock-in concept, in particular, are promising ones. Lock-ins have been furthest developed by Grabher in his study …
Knowledge bases, innovativeness and competitiveness in creative industries: The case of Hamburg’s video game developers
Due to its growing economic power, creative industries have climbed scholars' and policy-makers' agendas in recent years. However, in comparison with a high number of cluster studies on rather traditional industries, systematic research on knowledge production, innovation processes and competitiveness in creative industry clusters is still underrepresented. This paper aims to fill this gap by investigating the video game development industry in H…
Comparing knowledge networking in different knowledge bases in Germany
Institutions, Chain Governance and the Predicament of Local Upgrading: A Case Study of Hangzhou's Mobile Game Industry
This article focuses on one of China's emerging creative clusters – Hangzhou's mobile game industry – and investigates the various adaptations this cluster has undergone, as well as the mechanisms underlying the industrial and geographical dynamics within the cluster. Specifically, it examines the power asymmetry of governance in the cluster, paying attention to how chain governance has been shaped by both local and national institutional context…
Advancing spatial ontology in evolutionary economic geography
Although evolutionary economic geography has been popular in economic geography, it has also been criticized for, among others, a weak geographical conceptualization, which has become evident, particularly in empirical research on related and unrelated variety. Therefore, this paper advances a spatial ontology, which is embedded in critical realism and social constructivism, and will empower evolutionary economic geography to understand and expla…
Placing the platform economy: The emerging, developing and upgrading of Taobao villages as a platform-based place making phenomenon in China
The actions of platforms and their all-inclusive impact on place development is coined platform-based place making in this article. We use the actor-network theory to analyse a typical e-commerce platform-based place making, namely the emergence, development and upgrading of Taobao villages in China, and to explore the mechanisms of platform place making power. Our study shows that platforms ‘make’ places by platform–place interactions of progres…
Cluster Life Cycles: The Case of the Shipbuilding Industry Cluster in South Korea
Shin D.-H. and Hassink R. Cluster life cycles: the case of the shipbuilding industry cluster in South Korea, Regional Studies. Although South Korean academics and policy-makers have applied industrial districts, regional innovation systems and clusters both to study and promote regional economic development, these concepts have little power to explain the changing economic landscape over time. This paper tackles this question with the help of the…
It's the Language, Stupid! On Emotions, Strategies, and Consequences Related to the Use of One Language to Describe and Explain a Diverse World
Fragmented or engaged pluralism in economic geography
According to some economic geographers, modern economic geography has been increasingly fragmented over the last twenty years, concerning both its themes and its paradigms. However, so far, no bibliometric analysis has been carried out to quantitatively measure the degree of fragmentation in economic geography concerning paradigms. In this paper, we therefore aim to analyze the state of the art in economic geography concerning paradigms and persp…
Regional Innovation Policies Compared
Regional policy and technology policy increasingly converge into regional innovation policies in the Europe of regions. The comparison of technology-transfer networks in the German regions Baden-Württemberg and the Ruhr with the British region of the North East of England, makes clear that national political settings determine the political and financial power which regions have to devise their own policies. The region with the largest political …
Regional Technology Policies in the Old and New Länder of Germany: Case-Studies From Baden-Württemberg and Thuringia
Decentralizing trends in technology policy occur in the various regions of Europe to different degrees. National governments and history strongly influence the present political power of the regions of Europe and thus the environment of firms. In West Germany the relative autonomy of Länder gave them opportunities to implement their own technology policy at the end of the 1970s. Focusing on regional technology policies in one old Land, Baden-Würt…
What distinguishes 'good' from 'bad' industrial agglomerations
Towards Regionally Embedded Innovation Support Systems in South Korea? Case Studies from Kyongbuk–Taegu and Kyonggi
Towards Regionally Embedded Innovation Support Systems in South Korea? Case Studies from Kyongbuk-Taegu and Kyonggi
Since the beginning of the 1990s, systems of innovation have been used as a framework to explain differences in innovativeness between firms, industries and economies at local, regional, national and supranational levels. The main argument behind the discussions around systems of innovation is that firms are increasingly dependent on institutions in their direct environment for their innovativeness and thus competitiveness. In regional innovation…
Towards Regionally Embedded Innovation Support Systems in South Korea? Case Studies from Kyongbuk Taegu and Kyonggi
Fuzzy Concepts, Scanty Evidence, Policy Distance? Debating Ann Markusen' s Assessment of Critical Regional Studies
This article does not have an abstract
Regional innovation support systems in South Korea and Germany compared
How to unlock regional economies from path dependency? From learning region to learning cluster
Since the Industrial Revolution the cyclical processes of rise and fall of regional economies have been accelerating. Many of the specific problems of the falling part of clustering, that is old industrial areas, are related to path dependency and lock-ins. Particularly political lock-ins hinder the necessary restructuring processes in old industrial areas. They can be considered as thick institutional tissues aiming at preserving existing indust…
On the Battle between Shipbuilding Regions in Germany and South Korea
Over time we can observe a dramatic global shift in shipbuilding activities, from Great Britain to Continental Europe to Japan to South Korea; most recently China is gaining ground. Every transition is accompanied by institutional and political reactions, leading to protectionism and trade conflicts. The most recent of these battles is being fought out between the European Commission, in particular Germany as a major player in this market, and So…
It's the Language, Stupid! On Emotions, Strategies, and Consequences Related to the Use of One Language to Describe and Explain a Diverse World
The Strength of Weak Lock-Ins: The Renewal of the Westmünsterland Textile Industry
Modern theoretical concepts in economic geography are used to try to explain the positive sides of geographical clustering of industries. Of the few theoretical concepts which are used to try to explain the negative sides of clustering, that is, the decline of old industrial areas, evolutionary regional economics, in general, and the lock-in concept, in particular, are promising ones. Lock-ins have been furthest developed by Grabher in his study …
Limits to Locking-out through Restructuring: The Textile Industry in Daegu, South Korea
Cho M. and Hassink R. Limits to locking-out through restructuring: the textile industry in Daegu, South Korea, Regional Studies. The restructuring of old industrial areas is a relatively new phenomenon in the newly industrializing countries of East Asia, such as South Korea. Of the few theoretical concepts that try to explain the decline of such old industrial areas, evolutionary economic geography, in general, and the lock-in concept, in particu…
Locked in Decline? On the Role of Regional Lock-ins in Old Industrial Areas
Regional resilience: A promising concept to explain differences in regional economic adaptability
One of the most intriguing questions in economic geography is why some regional economies manage to renew themselves, whereas others remain locked in decline. To tackle this question, the idea of resilience has emerged building upon concepts derived from ecology, psychology, disaster studies and elsewhere. This conceptual paper aims at critically assessing whether regional resilience contributes to our understanding of regional economic adaptabil…
Comparing knowledge networking in different knowledge bases in Germany
Cluster Life Cycles: The Case of the Shipbuilding Industry Cluster in South Korea
Shin D.-H. and Hassink R. Cluster life cycles: the case of the shipbuilding industry cluster in South Korea, Regional Studies. Although South Korean academics and policy-makers have applied industrial districts, regional innovation systems and clusters both to study and promote regional economic development, these concepts have little power to explain the changing economic landscape over time. This paper tackles this question with the help of the…
Analysing the knowledge base configuration that drives southwest Saxony’s automotive firms
So far little research has been undertaken on analysing automotive clusters from a knowledge base perspective. Existing studies provide ambiguous hints as to which knowledge base is crucial for automotive manufacturing and innovation processes. This article therefore aims to analyse the knowledge base configuration of automotive clusters in more detail. It does so by investigating the nature and geography of knowledge sourcing and interactive inn…
The End of the Learning Region as We Knew It; Towards Learning in Space
Hassink R. and Klaerding C. The end of the learning region as we knew it; towards learning in space, Regional Studies. Since its launch in the mid-1990s, the learning region has been much debated by academics and applied in regional policies, which are as such positive signs. However, the concept has also been criticized for its fuzziness and its spatial (or regional) fetishism. By applying a cultural and relational perspective, the paper postula…
An Evolutionary Perspective on Tourism Area Development
Creative Industries from an Evolutionary Perspective: A Critical Literature Review
Although creative industries have been popular as a research topic among social scientists from various backgrounds, most studies lack an explicit evolutionary, history‐informed perspective. In this paper, we critically explore whether the notions of evolutionary economic geography can contribute to analyzing and explaining the spatial dynamics of creative industries, which has not been done yet in a systematic way. Although not all evolutionary …
Advancing Evolutionary Economic Geography by Engaged Pluralism
Hassink R., Klaerding C. and Marques P. Advancing evolutionary economic geography by engaged pluralism, Regional Studies. Since 2006 economic geographers have been confronted with attempts to constitute a new paradigm of evolutionary economic geography. This paper aims at advancing evolutionary economic geography by reviewing its core critique and proposed solutions, particularly that of integrating the perspective of a geographical political eco…
Knowledge bases, innovativeness and competitiveness in creative industries: The case of Hamburg’s video game developers
Due to its growing economic power, creative industries have climbed scholars' and policy-makers' agendas in recent years. However, in comparison with a high number of cluster studies on rather traditional industries, systematic research on knowledge production, innovation processes and competitiveness in creative industry clusters is still underrepresented. This paper aims to fill this gap by investigating the video game development industry in H…
Path dependence and tourism area development: The case of Guilin, China
Place leadership with Chinese characteristics? A case study of the Zaozhuang coal-mining region in transition
Place leadership with Chinese characteristics? A case study of the Zaozhuang coal-mining region in transition. Regional Studies. Although the role of the local state in China’s regional development has been regarded as important, individual local state actors and their relation with institutional change have been under-explored. Critically exploring the Western idea of place leadership, this paper launches the notion of local state leadership as …
Economic geography (41 works) · Economics (36 works) · Political science (32 works) · Geography (30 works) · Sociology (29 works) · Business (28 works) · Computer Science (26 works) · Regional resilience and development (25 works) · Regional science (24 works) · Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis (20 works)