Abstract

Acting as temporary clusters, trade fairs can turn into trans-local learning spaces in global industrial communities. However, up to now, how temporary gatherings are related to regional/national economies has not yet been systematically investigated. This article approaches the question with an international comparative study of trade fairs in Asian economies. Generally, consistent with a dynamic interpretation of temporary clusters, trade fairs exhibit a more diverse configuration of participants, being a setting more compatible for knowledge creation, in more developed Asian economies. However, structures of trade fairs are also influenced by organizational features of embedded economies. Further, seven flagship electronics fairs suggest an architecture of global temporary networks of clusters for high-end learning processes in the global knowledge economy.

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