Towards a competence theory of the region

This paper argues the case for extending the competence theory of the firm, or more generally the competence perspective, to analysis of the region. The relevance of the perspective follows from the characterisation of productive systems such as firms and regions as ensembles of competences that emerge from, but are not reducible to, social interaction. Attention is drawn to an identifiable (although unacknowledged) convergence of ideas in the recent regional literature, arguing that these ideas are best re-conceptualised in terms of regional competences. The cluster of high technology firms in the Cambridge region of the UK is briefly referred to in order to illustrate the main ideas of the paper.