Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Papers in Innovation Studies,
Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research

No 2026/13: Anchor or sinker – Large firms, anchoring capacity and regional development

Magnus Nilsson ()
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Magnus Nilsson: Department of Business Administration, Lund University, Postal: P.O. Box 118, 221 00 Lund, Sweden

Abstract: This paper ties together two literatures which explain regional anchoring from different perspectives. One is based on the role of large organizations in anchoring an industry in a region, the other is systemic and deals with anchoring processes that circulate and embed knowledge. Each leaves implicit what the other explains. The aim is to understand how anchor effects and regional anchoring capacity interact across different regional contexts. Illustrative cases from three Swedish regions show how the two both diverge from and reinforce each other, anchor without anchoring and anchoring without an anchor, depending on regional configuration and anchor control.

Keywords: Anchor firms; Anchoring; External control; Resilience; Periphery

JEL-codes: L22; R11; R58

Language: English

25 pages, October 20, 2026

Note: This work was supported by the Hamrin Foundation (grant number 2024-01); Jan Wallanders och Tom Hedelius Stiftelse samt Tore Browaldhs Stiftelse (grant number P20-0056) and Länsförsäkringar Alliance Research Foundation of Sweden (grant number 2017/01/011).

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