Some Remarks on a Theoretical issue of the Spatiality of Knowledge and Information - On the Basis of Experiences of Innovative SMEs Located in a Periphery of Japan

Place matters to knowledge creation according to the recent literature on economic geography and its related disciplines. This basic insight is not incorrect. But there is some vagueness in the discussions on this theme and there seems to appear a variety of geo-determinism on the competitiveness of SMEs in manufacturing industries. This paper reexamines that thinking on the basis of the realities of innovative manufacturing SMEs in a periphery of Japan, south of Kyushu Island. As a result, it is possible to classify face-to-face contacts into two kinds of communication. One is the communication, through which a supplier of a way of solution (knowledge) can grasp problems (information) of its customer in detail. The other is the communication, through which one can get some new idea. Information can spread world wide, but not always quickly and ubiquitously, because it often contains tacitness and secret, even if a large part of the information are coded in some form. Details of the information can be communicated only with the help of five senses. And it is necessary for the information receiver to listen to the sender carefully with the help of the other senses. In this meaning, tacitness does matter. Knowledge, namely ability to understand and power to bring some idea in practice, is always connected with some place, either at workshop of supplier or of customer in the case of manufacturing industries. However, not places but human beings possess the knowledge, and human beings can be mobile. Therefore, it is not restricted to a place.