No 2013/46 Multiple Paths of Development

Knowledge Bases and Institutional Characteristics of the Swedish Food Sector

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explain the complex development of the food sector in Southern Sweden in the past decades, focusing on the relation between institutions and innovation practices and taking into account the diversity of actors composing the sector. The paper develops a theoretical framework combining concepts of path dependency and knowledge bases, and applies it empirically. The three paths identified in the paper resemble path development via radical change, incremental change and diversification.