The Performance of Seaport Clusters - RePub - Erasmus Universiteit ...

Chapter 4 – Variables of Cluster Performance 37
Table 5: Stylized facts on the relation between structure and governance in clusters
School Stylized facts with regard to the relation between structure and governance
‘Diamond School’ Governance can enlarge agglomeration economies.
New economic geography -
Population economics -
Cluster governance affects the intensity of internal competition.
Institutional inertia is more likely to develop in a cluster predominantly
serving a local market.
Industrial District School SME’s have relatively good coordination skills.
4.2.5 Feedback effects
Apart from the effects of structure and governance on performance, feedback effects from
performance to both structure and governance exist. For example, a bad performance
changes the structure of a cluster because firms leave the cluster population. Furthermore, a
bad performance can lead to changes in cluster governance, because a ‘sense of crisis’
develops and governance mechanisms are changed. We acknowledge these effects, but do
not study them in the cases.
4.2.6 The environment
Cluster structure and cluster governance variables are incorporated in the framework. Both
types of variables are cluster specific: they have to be analyzed at the cluster level. The
performance of clusters is also affected by changes in the ‘environment’ of a cluster. For
instance, the development of a new solar technology might deeply affect the development of
a chemical cluster. Five important effects from changes in the ‘environment’ on the
performance of a cluster can be distinguished:
• The nation effect
• The industry effect
• The policy effect
• The resource effect
• The technology effect
'Nation specific variables’ lead to a ‘nation effect’, on the performance of clusters. Relevant
nation specific variables include the judicial structure (North and Douglas, 1990), national