The Cluster Initiative Greenbook

28
68
4 44 6
2
14
4
20
1
1
1
13
32
Figure 21
Geographic breakdown of
respondents
Number of respondents per country
or (for Europe and Western Asia) region
as in Figure 20
Source: GCIS 2003
Demography and response rates
Geographically, the respondents are concentrated in Europe, North America, New
Zealand, Australia, and Japan. (See Figures 20 and 21.) This is the result of these regions
receiving the largest number of invitations, which in turn is partly the result of
cluster initiatives most frequently occurring in these regions. However, as noted in the
box below, Asia and South America are clearly under-represented, possibly because of
language issues.
The overall response rate was surprisingly high, 47%, but this number varied considerably
across regions. Northern Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and Japan had
an above average response rate, increasing their share of the respondents further, whereas
Western Europe, North America and Central America had below average response
rates.
Number of responding CIs per country
New Zealand ................ 32 Sweden .......................... 11 Canada .............................. 4
United States.................. 28 Germany ....................... 10 Norway ............................. 4
United Kingdom .......... 25 Belgium ............................8 Cyprus ............................... 2
Japan ............................... 20 Denmark ..........................8 Estonia .............................. 2
Australia .......................... 13 France ...............................5 Mongolia........................... 2
Austria............................. 13 Hungary ............................5 Turkey................................ 2
Spain ............................... 13 Netherlands......................5 Other * ............................ 10
Finland ............................ 11 Cross-border ...................5
Table 1
Number of CIs per country
Source: GCIS 2003
* Chile, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Poland, South Africa and
Switzerland each have one respondent.
Ü were sent out by e-mail to individuals on all continents.
The other source was our own primary research using the
internet, cluster related reports and other publications.
The process resulted in a list of 509 identified cluster initiatives.
This constitutes just a fraction of all CIs in the world,
but it is probably one of the more comprehensive lists of CIs
currently in existence.
Distributing the survey
The 509 cluster initiatives were sent an e-mail inviting them to
participate in the survey. The invitation was written in English
and contained a link to an on-line survey in English.
Respondents could fill in a part of survey and return later to
fill in the rest. They could also go back and review and update
their responses. Those who filled in the whole survey in a
single session took on average 31 minutes to complete the
survey. The replies were supplied from 28 March to 23 April.
Sample bias
The sample of respondents contains several clear biases. First,
CIs in Northern Europe are clearly over-represented since the
research was conducted by Swedish staff having better access
to information from this area. Second, CIs in areas with high
Internet penetration are over-represented, because e-mail and
the Internet were used as key search tools. Third, CIs in English
speaking countries are over-represented, since the research
was carried out by persons speaking English as their first
foreign language and all correspondence was in English. This
could explain, for example, why so few CIs in Latin America
were identified.
The Cluster Initiative Greenbook • 33