Harald Bathelt
My Profile
A relational approach of economic geography, which emphasizes economic and social processes in spatial perspective (using a ‘geographical lens’), provides the analytical framework for my research. This rests on three basic propositions. First, economic actors are situated in contexts of social and institutional relations. Second, economic processes are path-dependent to the extent that future action is dependent on past decisions. Third, economic processes are at the same time contingent in that agents make choices which may deviate from existing development paths. The relational approach has distinct consequences for the way in which economic, social and political processes are analyzed. In particular, it calls for a micro perspective to understand economic structures and processes, focusing on those individual and collective agents involved in the governance of economic action. There are three levels of governance which I consider in my work, i.e. (i) the governance of economic organization and innovation at the level of the individual firm or organization, (ii) the governance of inter-organizational interaction in projects, networks and clusters, and (iii) the territorial governance of industrial systems and “global” value chains in local, regional, national and international contexts. |
I am Professor in the University of Toronto’s Department
of Geography and Planning. My research and teaching interests are
in the areas of industrial and economic geography, political economy
and methodology. Specific areas which provide the focus of my research
and teaching activities include the analysis of long-term social
and economic development, industrial clustering and the socio-economic
impacts of regional, industrial and institutional change. Research focus
In the 1970s and 1980s, the industrial core countries in Western Europe and North America entered a stage of drastic economic and societal change and crisis. The concomitant industrial and institutional change and its determinant factors and spatial implications are a particular focus of my research. The relationships between societal change and technological innovation, the division of labor and spatial organization patterns in production are of fundamental interest and provide the basis for the design of my empirical research. Research questions I address increasingly reflect the development of a triadic world market structure in that similar research designs are applied to different national institutional systems in North America, Western Europe and East/ Southeast Asia.
In my academic work, I have been interested in concepts, such as clusters, innovation systems, varieties of capitalism, regulation theory, and the like. Thus far, I have conducted extensive empirical research on firms in high technology industries (such as computers and electronic components), the media sector and other high growth industries (such as chemicals) in North America, China and Germany.
Recent publications include:
BATHELT, H./ HENN, S. (2025): Creating Knowledge over Distance: The Role of Temporary Proximity. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
BATHELT, H./ LI, P. (2025): Connecting Market and Innovation Dynamics: Trade Fairs as Temporary Markets and Clusters. In: ZFW - Advances in Economic Geography (Vol. 69). Forthcoming (doi: 10.1515/zfw-2025-0044; Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1515/zfw-2025-0044).
BATHELT, H./ SYDOW, J. (2025): Thoughtlet: Beyond Temporary Organizations: Trade Fairs as Temporary Markets, Clusters and Community Gatherings. In: Project Management Journal (Vol. 56). Forthcoming (doi: 10.1177/87569728251335244; URI: https://hdl.handle.net/1807/145213).
ROY, K./ BATHELT, H. (2025): Making the Ontario Craft Beer Market. In: Regional Studies (Vol. 59). Forthcoming (doi: 10.1080/00343404.2024.2435517; URI: https://hdl.handle.net/1807/145211).
BATHELT, H./ BUCHHOLZ, M./ STORPER, M. (2024): The Nature, Causes and Consequences of Inter-Regional Inequality. In: Journal of Economic Geography Special Issue (Vol. 24) pp. 353-374 (doi: 10.1093/jeg/lbae005; Open Access: https://academic.oup.com/joeg/article-abstract/24/3/353/7639369?utm_source=etoc&utm_campaign=joeg&utm_medium=email; URI: https://hdl.handle.net/1807/145210).
BATHELT, H./ BUCHHOLZ, M. (2024): Subsidiary Networks, Connectivity, and Urban-Regional Economic Development. In: European Planning Studies (Vol. 32) pp. 1529-1551 (doi: 10.1080/09654313.2024.2314692; URI: https://hdl.handle.net/1807/145209).
BUCHHOLZ, M./ BATHELT, H. (2024): Relational Hinterlands in the USA Have Become Disconnected from Major Global Centres. In: Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society (Vol. 17) pp. 219-234 (doi: 10.1093/cjres/rsad034; URI: https://hdl.handle.net/1807/145208).
BATHELT, H./ BUCHHOLZ, M./ CANTWELL, J.A. (2023): OFDI Activity and Urban-Regional Development Cycles: A Co-Evolutionary Perspective. In: Competitiveness Review (Vol. 33) pp. 512-533 (doi: 10.1108/CR-03-2022-0037; URI: https://hdl.handle.net/1807/124080).
BATHELT, H./ STORPER, M. (2023): Related Variety and Regional Development: A Critique. In: Economic Geography (Vol. 99) pp. 441-470 (doi: 10.1080/00130095.2023.2235050; URI: https://hdl.handle.net/1807/145207).
YANG, R./ BATHELT, H. (2023): How Outward FDIs Affect Income: Experiences from Chinese City-Regions. In: ZFW - Advances in Economic Geography (Vol. 67) pp. 47-64 (doi.org/10.1515/zfw-2023-0001; Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1515/zfw-2023-0001; URI: https://hdl.handle.net/1807/124082).
BATHELT, H./ HENN, S. (2021): Knowledge Exchange, Trust, and the Secretive Geographies of Mergers and Acquisitions. In: Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space (Vol. 53) pp. 1435-1453 (doi: 10.1177/0308518X211013360; Open Access (URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0308518X211013360)).
LI, P./ BATHELT, H. (2021): Spatial Knowledge Strategies: An Analysis of International Investments Using Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). In: Economic Geography (Vol. 97) pp. 366-389 (doi: 10.1080/00130095.2021.1941858; URI: https://hdl.handle.net/1807/124079).
BATHELT, H./ LI, P. (2020): Processes of Building Cross-Border Knowledge Pipelines. In: Research Policy (Vol. 49) # 103928 (doi: 10.1016/j.respol.2020.103928; URL: https://hdl.handle.net/1807/124076).
HENN, S./ BATHELT, H. (2018): Cross-Cluster Knowledge Fertilization, Cluster Emergence and the Generation of Buzz. In: Industrial and Corporate Change (Vol. 27) pp. 449-466 (doi: 10.1093/icc/dtx036; URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104383).
LI, P./ BATHELT, H. (2018): Location Strategy in Cluster Networks. In: Journal of International Business Studies (Vol. 49) pp. 967-989 (doi: 10.1057/s41267-017-0088-6; URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104384).
BATHELT, H./ COHENDET, P./ HENN, S./ SIMON, L. (Eds.) (2017): The Elgar Companion to Innovation and Knowledge Creation. Edward Elgar: Cheltenham, Northampton (MA).
BATHELT, H./ COHENDET, P./ HENN, S./ SIMON, L. (2017): Innovation and Knowledge Creation: Challenges to the Field (Eds.: BATHELT, H./ COHENDET, P./ HENN, S./ SIMON, L), pp. 1-25. Edward Elgar: Cheltenham, Northampton (MA) (doi: 10.4337/9781782548522; URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/87787).
BATHELT, H./ ZHAO, J. (2016): Conceptualizing Multiple Clusters in Mega-City Regions: The Case of the Biomedical Industry in Beijing. In: Geoforum (Vol. 75) pp. 186-198 (doi: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2016.07.016; URI: https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/75458).