Information sharing through informal interaction in low-tech clusters

Anant Kamath
2015 Innovation and Development  
ISBN 978 94 6159 279 8 © Anant Kamath, Maastricht 2013 Cover Image Cotton stacks and 'churka' or cotton gin in operation, Berar, India (1866) v Acknowledgements In Indian mythology there is a story of a bunch of young princes being taught archery by a great teacher, who puts up a clay-bird on the branch of a tree and asks each prince to aim for its eye. Before allowing them to release their arrows, the teacher asks each prince what he sees: one sees the bird, another sees the bird and the
more » ... , and one proudly replies that sees the bird, the branch and the tree. One prince, however, says that he can't see the tree, the branch, or even the bird's eye! The only thing he sees is the pupil of the bird's eye. The teacher, pleased by this incredibly sharp focus, allows only this prince to release his arrow, explaining that to achieve the shot, one ought to be blind to everything else but what's within the target. In economics, however, this is a neoclassical or old school approach to aiming a target eye. The new approaches say there's little point in zoom-focusing only the eye, since, to shoot an eye spot on, we actually need to see how the eye is set, studying the bird, the branch, and the tree as well. The various 'eyes' in this thesis were aimed at with this sort of holistic and broad perspective of each issue, however small, keeping in mind the broader socio-economic and institutional environment around it. If I have been successful in getting a good shot of an eye, it is this approach that has helped me succeed. For guiding me with this holistic approach, showing extraordinary forbearance with my limitations, and always being positive and reassuring, acknowledgements are due above all to my promoter and supervisor Prof Robin Cowan.
doi:10.1080/2157930x.2015.1007570 fatcat:sknsjoxsajcqlpilldd3skjzn4