When Firms Take the Lead in Facilitating Clusters

This paper focuses on the role of lead firms and their efforts to facilitate the development of clusters. Several clusters are known for the location of the lead firms that create and shape them, for example, by increasing their skill base, attracting suppliers and creating entrepreneurial activity. However, the literature suffers from insufficient dialogue on the role of lead firms as facilitators of clusters and on how the developmental differences in clusters affect the facilitation performed, and thus the benefits delivered, by lead firms. A key question then is how does the facilitation by lead firms differ in a top-down cluster from that in a bottom-up cluster? The paper is based on a comparative case study investigating the facilitating role of a lead firm within two clusters: Medicon Valley (top-down) and Mechatronics Cluster Denmark (bottom-up). The main conclusion reached is that lead firms in top-down clusters and in bottom-up clusters contribute with quite similar and overlapping cluster benefits, but the way in which these benefits are delivered differs greatly.     

Coping with Economic Crises—The Role of Clusters

The paper analyses the role clusters can play in coping with the impacts of economic crises, specifically by addressing how cluster organizations have acted to meet the challenges following the economic crises in Norway in the period 2008–2010. The paper investigates whether cluster maturity influences how the cluster acts in response to a crisis. To shed light on these questions, survey data from Norwegian cluster organizations were collected in two waves (spring 2009 and autumn 2010), and case studies of four cluster organizations provide further detail. The data indicate that clusters play a role in reducing uncertainty and improving access to necessary resources in crises periods. The data indicate that these advantages are not only due to increased collaboration between firms within the cluster, but that cluster organizations engage in considerable lobbying on behalf of their firms in regards to regional and national policy makers and public funding bodies. When comparing the impact experienced by mature and emerging clusters and their adaptation strategies, the data show that more mature clusters adapted to recent crises by implementing new innovation strategies and increasing collaboration and competence-building activities, to a greater extent than emerging clusters.     

EMBEDDED AND DISEMBEDDED PRACTICE IN THE FIRM–PLACE NEXUS: A STUDY OF TWO WORLD‐LEADING MANUFACTURERS OF SKI EQUIPMENT IN THE LILLEHAMMER SKI CLUSTER

Studies of agglomerations and clusters in economic geography anticipate strong interdependency between firms and places. However, despite the extensive literature, we lack a coherent micro‐theoretical foundation. The relationship between the rationales and practices of firms remains somewhat unspecified. In this article, we analyse the diversity of rationales and practices in a firm–place nexus. Possible rationales for firm practice are outlined, examining the assumptions of three, main theoretical perspectives in economic geography. This microeconomic approach is applied through an analysis of the two key firms in the Lillehammer skiing industry cluster in Norway. The study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of how the agency of firms influence and are influenced by co‐location.     

The Resilience of Clusters in the Context of Increasing Globalization: The Basque Wind Energy Value Chain

In this paper, we study how globalization impacts on the structure and governance patterns of value chains and on the resilience of local clusters. We study the value chains related to two Basque (Spain) companies in the wind energy industry, Iberdrola and Gamesa, and the local cluster to which they belong. We find that firms within the cluster have different types of relationships with lead companies depending on their competences and the complexity of their products. As a consequence, firms also present different potential for growth and/or resilience: some have the capacity to internationalize their operations and/or shift to the offshore wind market, others are vulnerable to competition from providers in the emerging countries. Against this context, we discuss how the cluster responds to these challenges and the role of policy.     

Managing the Global–Local Dimensions of Clusters and the Role of “Lead” Organizations: The Contrasting Cases of the Software and Medical Technology Clusters in the West of Ireland

The purpose of this paper is to investigate “leading” firms in an industrial cluster to understand how the balance between global and local dimensions of the cluster can be managed. Two cases of industry clusters, the software and medical technology clusters in the west of Ireland, are employed to examine how certain organizations can occupy a “lead” position and how—if at all—such organizations generate an agglomerative effect in a cluster. In the case of the medical technology cluster, the study shows that when large firms enact a leading role by influencing the technology trajectory of the region and stimulating the local dynamic, they can generate agglomerative effects, thereby enhancing the relevance and sustainability of clusters. Most significantly, it shows how leading organizations act as an important facilitator in connecting the global and local dimensions of clusters even in the absence of extensive local formal linkages. At the same time, the case of the software cluster reveals that the presence of large organizations alone does not inevitably stimulate such a clustering effect and emphasizes that appropriate characteristics and conditions need to be in place. Overall, while the study substantiates previous research on the significance of temporary and organized forms of proximity, it also shows the value that permanent geographical proximity can have, thereby contesting recent research that downplays the relevance of the clustering institution (e.g. Lorentzen, A. (2007) The geography of knowledge sourcing—A case study of Polish manufacturing enterprises, European Planning Studies, 15, pp. 467–486; Wickham, J. & Vecchi, A. (2008) Local firms and global reach: Business air travel and the Irish software cluster, European Planning Studies, 16, pp. 693–710).     

Cluster Facilitation from a Cluster Life Cycle Perspective

Clusters influence the way firms cooperate, organize and compete, but clusters and their related benefits rarely come spontaneously in a straight line of expansion. It is argued that clusters typically develop in accordance with a life cycle, which includes an evolutionary sequence of steps where actors from the private and public sectors are engaged and where one or more cluster facilitators are coordinating and promoting the process. In the literature, the role of cluster facilitators has almost exclusively been described as static, leaving a research gap about how this particular role changes during the life cycle of clusters. Inspired by that research gap, this paper contributes to the understanding of the relationship between cluster development and cluster facilitation. It brings forward a framework for describing and discussing the exact changes taking place in the role of cluster facilitators, including the facilitation focus, competencies and tasks that they make use of along the cluster life cycle. This investigation is based on a multiple case study consisting of nine different clusters located in Denmark.     

不同类型产业集群发展中地方政府行为的比较研究

产业集群是当今地方政府发展本地经济的主要政策方向之一。本研究首先从理论上探讨地方政府在经济发展和产业集群中行为动机和特征,其次案例分析内生型的花都区狮岭镇皮革皮具产业集群和外生型的东莞市石龙镇电子信息产业集群发展不同阶段中地方政府的行为方式,然后对比发现两种类型产业集群中的地方政府行为方式与产业集群的形成过程和发展特征相协调,最后总结出不同类型产业集群在不同阶段地方政府行为方式的重点领域,以期为地方政府产业集群政策的制定提供参考。     

Innovation,knowledge and relations – on the role of clusters for firms’ innovativeness

ABSTRACT

For more than two decades, theories on regional clusters have inspired economic and structural policies at the European, national and regional levels. Based on the assumption that clusters generate innovation, policy-makers at all levels of governance have adopted instruments and mechanisms to stimulate, resource and sustain clusters. Despite the considerable attention paid to the clustering phenomenon, empirical evidence on to what extent firms’ innovation activities benefit from operating in clusters is scarce and inconclusive. This paper contributes to the micro-foundation of clustering effects by examining the characteristics and activities of cluster firms in relation to their innovativeness. Bridging innovation, management and cluster theories, it is argued that structural and relational embeddedness, relational capital and absorptive capacity influence clustered firms' innovativeness. Partial least-squares structural equation modelling of data from 104 firms in two software and information technology service sector clusters reveals that firms’ structural embeddedness (i.e. frequency of interactions) in clusters and external networks facilitates innovation cooperation. Firms’ absorptive capacity reinforces this positive effect of cluster-internal interactions on innovation cooperation. Results also suggest a substitution effect of trust as relational control mechanisms for formal control mechanisms within the cluster. However, the study finds no significant impact of firms’ innovation cooperation within the cluster (i.e. relational embeddedness) on their innovation success.     

Cluster Dynamics: New Evidence and Projections for Computing Services in Great Britain*

Abstract. This paper tests some of the main hypotheses about the importance of horizontal clusters for the growth of employment in small firms using data from Computing Services in Great Britain. In the main section of the paper, spatial econometric models are estimated controlling for supply‐ and demand‐side conditions to isolate the effect of initial cluster intensity. The paper then projects cluster development using the fitted model, showing how clusters are likely to emerge and intensify. One aspect of the paper is the existence of a de‐clustering mechanism due to congestion effects.     

BRAIN CIRCULATION AND FLEXIBLE ADJUSTMENT: LABOUR MOBILITY AS A CLUSTER ADVANTAGE

This article explores the role of labour mobility as a potential cluster advantage. We review the theoretical arguments as for how and why labour mobility could enhance the dynamism and performance of clusters of similar and related firms. A combination of quantitative and qualitative data from two information and communication technology (ICT) clusters is used to answer two research questions: (1) What is the role of mobility enhancing (or restricting) institutions in clusters? and (2) In what ways does labour mobility contribute to knowledge transfer within clusters? The two ICT clusters studied in the article generally seem to have higher levels of mobility, compared to the labour market at large. Although it is regarded as beneficial in theory, most cluster firms try to restrict mobility of workers since they fear the risk and costs of losing staff. Labour mobility is also rarely viewed as a viable way to increase the knowledge bases or contact networks of firms. However, when firms need to recruit the clustered labour markets seem to benefit them by facilitating the use of informal recruitment processes. By way of conclusion it is suggested that cluster firms might be under‐investing in mobility and that innovative institutional solutions could help realize clusters' mobility potential.     

Clusters versus Cluster Initiatives,with Focus on the ICT Sector in Poland

The article focuses on the topic of clustering, which has become a popular concept, both from the academic and political perspective, and as an efficient business model. The distinction between clusters, understood as geographical concentrations of specific industries, and cluster initiatives, understood as more formalized actions undertaken by regional actors, is proposed. The primary objective of this study is to verify if these two types of structures are overlapping each other. This problem arises because the motivation for forming some cluster initiatives may be different economic policy instruments rather than existing market potential of a specific regional economy. The study finds that not all of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) cluster initiatives in Poland represent real concentration of ICT-related divisions included in statistical classification of economic activities in the European community Rev. 2 classification, as measured by location quotients (LQs) for indicators on employment, firms' incomes and number of enterprises. However, there is a visible pattern that the LQs are higher in smaller geographic areas (NUTS 4 (Nomenclature of units for territorial statistics)), which usually represent big cities, being the cores of cluster initiatives. The study also discusses the phenomenon of the internationalization of clusters and the value added to that process from forming formalized cluster initiatives, which create favourable institutional framework for transborder cooperation.     

生产范式变革下集群企业的去地方化研究

在全球化和地方化共同作用下,经济活动的去地方化现象越来越受到关注。与一般的产业转移概念不同,去地方化着重强调企业受到某种作用脱离地方生产网络,进而对地方生产网络产生的影响。目前关于去地方化的研究多集中在欧美国家,且多是基于全球生产网络的视角,而由企业生产范式变革引起的去地方化没有得到应有重视。实际上,在中国沿海地区,集群内创新型企业进行生产范式变革,引起企业去地方化现象十分明显,对地方经济社会产生深刻影响。在此背景下,本文建立生产范式变革、组织协同与企业去地方化的理论架构,分别以东莞鞋业集群和华宏鞋业公司为例,分析鞋业集群和企业在生产范式变革下的去地方化现象,为地方政府更好地制定实施集群政策和产业转移提供理论依据。     

Entrepreneurial firms in STI and DUI mode clusters: do they need differentiated cluster facilitation?

This paper elaborates on the types of knowledge sources, actors and geographical space that are involved in innovation processes among small entrepreneurial firms located in two distinct city-based clusters in Norway with firms characterized as typical STI mode innovators (Oslo Cancer Cluster) and DUI mode innovators (Subsea cluster in Bergen). The aim of the paper is to see how, when and why firms source distinct knowledge and to what degree this aligns with their initial knowledge base and STI or DUI innovation mode. Findings show that the knowledge base and innovation mode approach hold for describing the early stages of the innovation process, suggesting cumulative path-dependent knowledge dynamics. However, at later stages, firms combine STI and DUI mode innovation logics and activate different types of sources, actors and geographical scales through combinatorial knowledge dynamics, largely pushed forward by the need to solve unforeseen challenges, to understand markets and by the need to reduce risks associated with the newness of innovations. Furthermore, we find that rigid regulatory regimes influence the dynamic interplay between sources, actors and geographical scales in the process of creating and transmitting knowledge. Based on these findings, the paper proposes cluster roles and facilitation initiatives.     

Clusters, Power and Place: Inequality and Local Growth in Time–Space

The argument of this paper is that a deeper appreciation of the nature of the power relationships between firms and the circuits of power that bind them together is key to understanding how clusters function — including how they might emerge and how they might decline. We begin to develop a conceptualization that allows us to generate a deeper understanding of the processes that enable the production and reproduction of enterprise clusters under some combinations of circumstances but not others. The sections of the paper explore: (1) concepts of power and circuits of power including their spatialities; (2) the temporarily stabilized relationships which occur in clusters of economic activity; (3) the openness and permeability of clusters as a way of understanding conditions that foster cluster growth; (4) a tentative integration of concepts. From this reading of the concepts of clustering and power we draw the conclusion that clusters are, at any particular point in time, temporary and transient conjunctures of interfirm relationships. They depend on specific circumstances in 'time–space' and, because of their very transience and specificity, those conditions might be very difficult if not impossible to create through the blunt instruments of policy.     

Examining the Role of Geographical Proximity in a Cluster's Transformation Process: The Case of Taiwan's Machine Tool Industry

This paper examines the relationship between geographical proximity and a cluster's sustained dynamism with a specific focus on the role of geographical proximity in the transformation of cluster firms' production and learning organizations. Using Taiwan's machine tool cluster as an empirical case, this article studies the nature of various intra- and extra-cluster technological networks established by local firms to tackle the cluster's developmental inertia. In contrast to most recent studies that seem to consider geographical proximity less relevant to the sustained prosperity of incumbent clusters, our case study finds that geographical proximity continues to be a critical factor underlying agglomerated firms' capacity to maintain and explore diverse capabilities within and outside the clusters. On the one hand, co-location allows these firms and their coupled actors to experiment with a range of technological networks and organizational forms in the face of the changing competitive conditions. On the other hand, while the spatial boundaries of important technological networks in the cluster are not necessarily confined to the locality, we find that geographical proximity among networked members is the key to the emergence of and better governing over those crucial extra-cluster networks. In addition to responding to the call for empirical work exploring the relationships between geographical proximity and non-geographical proximity in knowledge creation and exchange, this article contributes to the cluster literature by providing evidence on the evolution of clusters and whether the advantages associated with geographical clustering persist over time.     

知识密集型服务机构(KIBS)嵌入视角的集群企业成长实证研究框架

通过构建"知识密集型服务机构(KIBS)嵌入-集群网络结构-集群企业成长"的概念模型,本文分别对两阶段模型即"KIBS嵌入-集群网络结构"、"集群网络结构-知识能力-集群企业成长"进行深入理论分析,揭示了KIBS嵌入对集群企业成长的作用机制。     

Small Businesses Need Strong Mediators: Mitigating the Disadvantages of Peripheral Localization Through Alliance Formation

This paper investigates how small entrepreneurial firms in two peripheral regions developed by entering the oil and gas industry. The paper draws on previous studies related to the establishment of strategic alliances and emerging clusters and contributes to these research streams by examining the disadvantages of peripheral localization and small firm size. We use a longitudinal case study based on primary data consisting of 54 in-depth interviews conducted between 2007 and 2012 to illustrate that when large-scale oil and gas projects enter a peripheral region, oil companies can moderate local firms' disadvantages related to peripheral localization by actively facilitating relationships with established national firms. By facilitating such relationships and maintaining an active moderating role, strategic alliances and emerging cluster structures can arise. A cross-case analysis illustrates that the oil company had a decisive role in one of the two cases in two dimensions: its role as intermediary between local firms and national firms and its role in fostering the development of an emerging cluster structure by stimulating the establishment of new firms through the oil and gas project. In the second case, the oil company was unable to facilitate regional development.     

Guilty by Association: A Cross-industrial Approach to Sourcing Complementary Knowledge in the Uppsala Biotechnology Cluster

A wide range of industrial studies recognize the tendency of similar and related economic activities to co-locate in so-called industrial systems or clusters. While a cluster is defined by its cross-industrial relations the supporting and complementary role of cluster actors is seldom fully explored. This study will focus on the dynamics of cluster relations and give an account for the complementary nature of clusters by analysing anchor firms and complementary agents (such as specialized service providers and institutions for collaboration) in the Uppsala biotechnology cluster in Sweden. The empirical data used involves a triangulation of interview, survey and individual-based register data based upon a mapping of cluster actors active in 2002 and 2003. It is shown that both the formerly dominant pharmaceutical company and the local university have actively taken the role as anchor firms/organizations creating a local and dynamic milieu for biotechnology activities. Furthermore, it is shown that the local cluster consists of a variety of complementary agents contributing to knowledge spillovers and cluster competitiveness.     

Do industrial districts influence export performance and export intensity? Evidence for Spanish SMEs' internationalization process

This paper seeks to enhance the understanding of the role of the industrial districts in the internationalization process of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The study focuses essentially upon the following issue: Can the location inside industrial districts influence the export performance and export intensity of the Spanish SMEs? To address this question, this study draws upon a sample of 285 manufacturing firms located in the Valencian community (a Spanish region) surveyed during the period January 2000 to March 2000. It is shown that industrial district location, marketing differentiation, institutional networks, clients' networks, competitors' networks and global orientation of sector and company have a clear influence on firms export performance and export intensity. The results are basically consistent with the limited previous research.     

基于物流企业网络的中国城市网络空间结构特征研究

借鉴世界城市网络研究代表性学者Taylor等提出的世界城市网络研究方法,以中国主要物流企业总部及分公司的分布数据为基础,生成国内物流企业网络,并从物流企业网络中各城市网络连接度、网络总体形态结构和三大城市群网络格局比较三方面分析解读中国城市网络空间结构特征。发现了中国城市网络节点城市连接度层次分布情况,城际网络联系强度分等,以及环渤海、长三角、珠三角三大巨型城市群内外部网络格局差异等结构现象,对中国城市网络空间特征研究做出了有效尝试。