Global knowledge hubs: Introducing a new conceptual model

Industrial clusters are perceived to enhance competitive advantage, stimulate economic growth and employment, and confer superior firm performance. With the business environment trending towards knowledgeintensive capitalism, industrial clusters are developing into hubs for knowledge creation and learning, hence culminating in the emergence of the 'global knowledge hub' (GKH) concept. Nevertheless, the GKH concept remains nebulous with no clear definition available in extant literature despite being already implemented as a policy initiative. Hence, a generic GKH model was developed in this study to conceptually define and explain what GKHs are, which includes identifying appropriate constituent components, dimensions and relevant knowledge interactions, via a review and synthesis of multidisciplinary streams of literature on clusters, knowledge management and globalisation. Consequently, this study establishes the background for future exploratory case studies and empirical research whereby the proposed model could be operationalised as a construct to assess the impacts of GKHs on firm performance.