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The productivity effects of regional anchors on local firms in Swedish regions between 2007 and 2019—evidence from an expert-informed machine learning approach

Nilsson, Magnus LU ; Schubert, Torben LU and Miörner, Johan LU orcid (2025) In Journal of Economic Geography 25(2). p.215-234
Abstract

The concept of regional anchor firms remains under-investigated. We analyse the mechanisms by which anchors affect other regional firms, disentangling effects resulting from scale/size vis-à-vis knowledge spillovers. Departing from previous idiographic research, we adopt a nomothetic research design and develop a stepwise expert-informed supervised machine learning approach to identify all anchor firms in Sweden between 2007 and 19. We find support for positive anchor effects on the productivity of dependent regional firms. This effect is driven by factors reflecting scale/size, while anchors’ R&D intensity as a measure for knowledge spillovers does not drive productivity gains.

Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
O18, R1, R12
in
Journal of Economic Geography
volume
25
issue
2
pages
20 pages
publisher
Oxford University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:105001188289
ISSN
1468-2702
DOI
10.1093/jeg/lbae038
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
1ce755ae-d353-4762-a2de-bf5178637c15
date added to LUP
2024-10-21 09:30:09
date last changed
2025-06-30 13:41:27
@article{1ce755ae-d353-4762-a2de-bf5178637c15,
  abstract     = {{<p>The concept of regional anchor firms remains under-investigated. We analyse the mechanisms by which anchors affect other regional firms, disentangling effects resulting from scale/size vis-à-vis knowledge spillovers. Departing from previous idiographic research, we adopt a nomothetic research design and develop a stepwise expert-informed supervised machine learning approach to identify all anchor firms in Sweden between 2007 and 19. We find support for positive anchor effects on the productivity of dependent regional firms. This effect is driven by factors reflecting scale/size, while anchors’ R&amp;D intensity as a measure for knowledge spillovers does not drive productivity gains.</p>}},
  author       = {{Nilsson, Magnus and Schubert, Torben and Miörner, Johan}},
  issn         = {{1468-2702}},
  keywords     = {{O18; R1; R12}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{215--234}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{Journal of Economic Geography}},
  title        = {{The productivity effects of regional anchors on local firms in Swedish regions between 2007 and 2019—evidence from an expert-informed machine learning approach}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbae038}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/jeg/lbae038}},
  volume       = {{25}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}