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Threshold Firms: Innovation, Design and Collaboration in British Columbia's Forest Economy
Author(s) -
Hanna Rosemary,
Hayter Roger,
Clapp Alex
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
growth and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.657
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1468-2257
pISSN - 0017-4815
DOI - 10.1111/grow.12210
Subject(s) - embeddedness , internationalization , mainland , business , scope (computer science) , product (mathematics) , economic geography , industrial organization , economics , international trade , geography , geometry , mathematics , archaeology , sociology , anthropology , computer science , programming language
This paper assesses the extent to which threshold firms have emerged within British Columbia's wood processing industries. Threshold firms comprise an innovative business segment and are growth oriented, larger than most small firms but not giant, locally owned, international in scope at least with respect to exporting, reliant on skilled, well paid employees, and that have developed knowledge‐based product market advantages. The analysis draws on an extended case study survey of 14 firms located in the lower mainland and Okanagan regions of British Columbia, and selected for their potential as threshold firms. The analysis examines six characteristics associated with threshold firms: size and ownership, internationalization, wood supply, labor relations, innovative design and collaboration, and local embeddedness. These firms reveal attributes of threshold firms, and the paper concludes by suggesting that an innovative forest policy for British Columbia could usefully focus on this type of firm.