The geography of learning and knowledge acquisition among Asian latecomers
研究台湾和韩国企业在美国的技术学习与知识获取地理模式，揭示其通过本地科学园区、中国制造基地和美国研发设施的多尺度空间策略，从技术后来者转变为技术新来者。
This paper examines the geography of technological learning and knowledge acquisition among Taiwanese and Korean firms. Specifically it focuses on the knowledge sourcing experience of Asian manufacturing latecomers in the United States (US). The Asian latecomer model of learning is characterized by a triangular spatial division of knowledge sourcing and technological production that involves the transfer and circulation of knowledge across multiple spatial scales. At the regional level, Korean and Taiwanese firms rely on local learning systems in the form of science parks to create favorable domestic agglomeration economies that are conducive for knowledge accretion. At the trans-regional level, non-core R&D and the manufacturing of technology-driven products are geographically concentrated in China. Lastly, local and trans-regional learning are supplemented by international sourcing of knowledge through the location and investment of R&D facilities in the US. To the extent that extra-local knowledge sourcing in the US is associated with the acquisition of new knowledge forms, such a multiscalar spatial strategy is expected to help transform Asian learners from technology latecomer to technology newcomer status. Copyright 2006, Oxford University Press.