1 PUBLIC-PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS AS KNOWLEDGE BRIDGES AND CATALYSTS OF UPGRADING IN EMERGING MARKET SOCIETIES: How Development and Network Scholars Might Finally Catch Up to Suzanne Berger

Abstract

This paper draws on two key insights by Suzanne Berger that economic sociologists and business scholars tend to overlook: the ways in which secondary associations and social groups can insulate their members from external information and ties and the ways in which politics and government policies can reinforce or change such constraints. Her insights force scholars to focus on the structural properties and institutional topography of networks or clusters, and in turn allow us to better understand the role of politics in shaping social relations and even firm-level innovation. I argue that the ability of a firm to access a variety of knowledge resources, and in turn upgrade its products, depends on being tied not simply to any or many organizations and institutions but rather to those that act as social and knowledge bridges across previously isolated producer communities. Through a multi-method analysis of the recent transformation of the Argentine wine industry, I highlight how distinct governance rules for new government support institutions can anchor their multiplex, cross-cutting network qualities, which underpin their ability to provide improved collective resources and reshape the ties between firms. ^This paper was prepared for the MIT Workshop in Honor of Suzanne Berger. It is a synthesis of

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