The Cluster Initiative Greenbook

Foreword
by Professor Michael E. Porter
The concept of clusters has emerged as a central idea in competitiveness and economic
development over the last decade. Drawing on a long tradition of literature, the reasons
for cluster formation and the benefits of clusters for productivity and innovation are
becoming better known. 1 A large and growing body of case studies has documented
clusters, their characteristics, and their evolution over time. 2 More recently, efforts to
analyze clusters statistically are beginning, 3 but are still hampered by data limitations,
especially outside the United States.
As the understanding of clusters has grown, clusters have become a prevalent component
of national and regional economic development plans. Hundreds of cluster
initiatives have been launched involving virtually all region of the world, and the number
is growing. These initiatives, which take a wide variety of forms, are now an accepted
part of economic development. However, we have surprisingly little systematic knowledge
of these initiatives, their structure, and their outcomes. As more and more resources
are devoted to efforts to foster cluster development, the need to understand best
practices has become urgent.
This Cluster Initiative Greenbook is a pioneering effort to fill this gap. It assembles,
for the first time, survey evidence on a large sample of cluster initiatives. This data
allows an analysis of the different shapes of cluster initiatives, how they evolve over
time, and some of the factors that appear to influence their success and failure. While
data limitations preclude definitive findings regarding the performance of cluster initiatives,
then, the Greenbook provides much helpful and suggestive evidence. It also contains
more in-depth descriptions of some aspects of cluster initiatives that experience reveals
to be important to success.
Having participated in many dozens of cluster initiatives since the publication of The
Competitive Advantage of Nations in 1990, the findings and suggestions here ring true.
While we still have much to learn about translating the concept of clusters into practice,
this volume takes us a big step forward.
Boston, August 2003
Michael E. Porter
1
For a literature survey and summary of the theory, see M.E. Porter, “Clusters and Competition: New
Agendas for Companies, Governments, and Institutions” in On Competition, Boston: Harvard Business
School Press (1998).
2
See the bibliography of cluster profiles by Claas van der Linde available at http://data.isc.hbs.edu/
cp/index.jsp
3
See M.E. Porter, The Economic Performance of Regions, Regional Studies, pp. 549-478, Vol. 37. 6&7,
2003.
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