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Problems of creating micro-clusters… 53
the perspective of marketing it can be important. Here, the positivists’ “mind mapping”
approach (Pearce, 1977 7 ; Fridgen, 1987 8 ; Walmsley & Jenkins, 1992 9 ) can be
used in regard to segmentation. From the marketing perspective, to accept administrative
borders as the only logical framework to be analyzed is to ignore the demand
principles – tourists’ perception of place. Business networks are created disregarding
the administrative borders of various areas, creating a different view of space,
calling some areas “my territory” and “extraneous territory”. That leads to spatial
analysis of the size of the cluster. Are clustering of the space and tourists’ perceptions
of the same space related?
Porter (1990 10 ) defined a cluster as a group of companies, suppliers, service
providers and institutions that are interrelated in a single sector, are in geographic
proximity and engage both in mutual competition and co-operation. Geographic
co-location may well be a necessary condition for effective clustering to occur, but
it is not sufficient by itself (Michael, 2007 11 ). Furthermore, Michael (2007 12 ) speaks
about co-location pools that could be interpreted both from the point of view of
economy and space. Law (2002 13 ) says that cluster can be defined as a group of
firms in a geographically concentrated space which are linked through a focus on
a particular activity and which gain their strength and potential for growth through
those links. Kelly (2008 14 ) adopts the same idea for city precincts. Besides spatial
barriers we can also recognize limitations to informal cooperation. Some of these
barriers are related to administrative and political boundaries in the destination, the
blending of core and peripheral stakeholders, financial and administrative support to
cluster formation, physical barriers or the absence of a champion (Mitchell &
Schreiber, 2007 15 ; Klepers & Rozīte, 2009 16 ). Describing various industrial clusters,
7
P. L. Pearce, Mental souvenirs: a study of tourists and their city maps, “Australian Journal
of Psychology” 1977, No. 29 (3), pp. 203–210.
8
J.D. Fridgen, Use of Cognitive Maps to Determine Perceived Tourism Region, “Leisure
Sciences” 1987, No. 9, pp. 101–117.
9
D.J. Walmsley, J.M. Jenkins, Tourism cognitive mapping of unfamiliar environments,
“Annals of Tourism Research” 1992, No. 19 (2), pp. 268–286.
10
M.E. Porter, The Competitive Advantage of Nations, The Free Press, New York 1990.
11
E. Michael, Micro-Clusters and Networks: The Growth of Tourism (1st ed.), Elsevier
Science, Oxford 2007.
12
Ibidem.
13
C.M. Law, Urban tourism: The Visitor Economy and the Growth of Large Cities (2nd
ed.), London 2002, Continuum.
14
I. Kelly, Precincts within the Urban Form: Relationships with the City, in: City Spaces...,
op.cit., pp. 107–127.
15
R. Mitchel, C. Schreiber Wine Tourism Networks and Clusters: Operation and Barriers
in New Zealand, in: City Spaces..., op.cit., pp. 79–106
16
A. Klepers, M. Rozīte, The Regional Development of Tourism and the Emergence of
Clusters in Latvia: The Example of Sigulda, in: Ģeogrāfiski Raksti, Folia Geographica XIV,
Latvian Geographical Society, Riga 2009, pp. 24–37.