Clusters and competitiveness - PRO INNO Europe

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and othercompaniesthatturnintoacluster.Quiteoften,newclustersarealsorootedin older clusters that have lost their traditional market but found new ways to leverage their capabilities. Changing patterns of regional specialization therefore tend to follow a pattern of “related diversification” (Neffke et al., 2009).Clusterscanincreasecompanies’abilityto transfercapabilitiestosuchnewuses,evenifthetraditionalanchorcompanythatinitially gaverisetotheclusterhasvanished(Treado/Giarratani,2008).Allthesedifferentfactors often interplay and change in importance over time as clusters evolve. The case evidence also emphasizes the role of entrepreneurs in translating the opportunities from effective cross-regional competition and conducive business environments into actual cluster emergence (Braunerhjelm/Feldmann, 2006). This is particular true for the development of collaboration within a cluster that moves beyond the automatic benefits of pure co-location. Agrowingliteraturelooksatthelifecycleofclusters(Bergmann,2006).Clustersoftenseem tofollowans-shapeddevelopmentpath.Afteran(oftenlong)phaseofslowgestation aclusterreachesasizewhereclustereffectssetinandgrowthaccelerates.Thisgrowth thanbecomesself-reinforcing;clustereffectsreachtheirfullscaleandgrowthexplodes. Eventually, growth moderates as the cluster reaches its market potential and congestion effects become more relevant. Some clusters then manage to reinvent themselves, finding anewmarketortechnologytoigniteanextphaseofclusterdynamisms.Others,however, getlockedintoexistingtechnologyandeventuallyshrink,astheirmarketsdisappearor other locations develop more dynamism. Thisthinkingfindsitsreflectionintheworkonregionaleconomies(Audretschet al., 2008). One hypothesisisthattheriseandfallofregionsbasicallyfollowstheriseandfallofkey clusters.Anotherhypothesisisthatregionsareofdifferenttypes,andclusters’move’across these types as they pass through their life cycle (Duranton/Puga, 2001). The limitationofmanyofthesestudiesisthattheyworkwellbackwards,i.e.trackthe pathofsuccessfulregions,buthaveonlylimitedpredictivepower,i.e.areabletoidentify clustersthateventuallyblossomalreadyearlyintheirlifecycle.Manycasestudiessuggest thatthe process of cluster development is complex and fragile (Feldman/Francis, 2004); the life cyclehypothesisisahelpfulanalyticaltoolbutdescribesonlyamoderatepartofthe mixofself-organizing and externally induced processes that are under way when clusters form (Sölvell, 2008). The discussion so far has not touched the role of government, and for good reasons: There isverylittleevidencethatgovernmentscancreateclustersandampleexamplesofwhere theyfailedinsuchefforts(Porter,2008).Butitisquiteclearthatgovernmentisanimportant factorinthedifferenttypesofclusterevolutionprocessesdescribedabove(Sölvell,2008; MeierzuKöcker,2008).Governmentpoliciesareimportantforhowthepotentialbenefits ofgeographiclocationornaturalresourcescanbeexploited.Theyinfluencemanyaspects ofthe business environment, from decisions about the university system to infrastructure to consumer and environmental regulation. They can make market entry more or less 134 CLUSTERS AND COMPETITIVENESS: THE CASE OF CATALONIA (1993-2010)
attractive for entrepreneurs. And they can play a role in the diversification towards new clusters through targeted FDI attraction and facilitating collaboration in existing clusters. Whereeffortsaimtofacilitatetheevolutionofnewclusters,theyneedtoidentifywhichnew clusters have a reasonable probability of developing. Two new approaches have recently beensuggestedtosupportthisselection,bothbasedonidentifyingareasthatarerelated tocurrentstrengths.Thesecurrentstrengthsareseenpartlyasasourceofexistingcompany capabilitiesthatcanalsobeusedinthenewfield,andpartlyasanindicationofexisting businessenvironmentstrengthsthatarealsorelevantthere.Oneapproachlooksatthe typesofproducts and services that countries at a given level of economic development tend to export (Hausmann/Klinger, 2007). As countriesdevelop,itturnsoutthattheymovesequentiallyintonewexportsof relatedgoodsandservices,ratherthan’jumping’intoverydistantareasoftheproduct space.Anotherapproachlooksatthelinkagesbetweenandwithinclustersrevealedin employment,andtakesthatasastartingpointtoanalyzethepotentialtodevelopan existing portfolio of exports (Porter/Ketels, 2007). Growth can be generated from increasing thevalueperunitofexportsinexistingclusters,growingexportsinsofarweakerindustries within strong export clusters, developing related clusters, and turning exports positions in narrow niche industries into broader cluster strengths. These findings are relevant not only for exports but also more generally for economies’ changing patterns of specialization. 3. Cluster policy Cluster researchoverthelasttwentyyearshastoalargedegreefocusedonestablishing clusters’ role for the market success of companies and the performance of regions. Not surprisingly, the evidence that clusters are important for economic success has attracted theinterestofpolicymakers.Butwhilethereisanemergingconsensusontheusefulness ofclusters as an analytical tool, at least the academic discussion on cluster policy remains far from agreement. Practitioners, meanwhile,haveoverthelastfewyearslaunchedanimpressivenumber ofcluster policy programs. Catalonia was among the first economies globally that launched cluster efforts around the time when Porter’s “Competitive Advantage of Nations” was published (other “early adopters” where the Basque country (Aranguren et al., 2006)as wellDenmark, Finland, and the Netherlands). The experience with this first wave of cluster policies wasmixed,andtherewasaperiodoflessactivitythatlastedupuntiltheearly 2000s.Cataloniawasamongthefewregionsthatcontinueditsclusterprogramsover time.Sincethen,therehasbeenamarkedrevivalofclusterefforts,especiallysince2005. Thisrevivalwasdrivenlargelybyagrowingfrustrationofpolicymakerswithtraditional approachesatatimewhenpressuretoincreasecompetitivenesswasgrowing(Davies, 2007;Freser,2005).Thenewpoliciesandprogramscoulddrawonthelearningsfromearlier efforts.Buttheycouldstillnotbuildonaconsensusmodelofclusterpolicythatwouldhave converted the skeptics. ANNEX: CLUSTERS AND COMPETITIVENESS: FLORENCE, BOSTON, BARCELONA 135
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Clusters and competitiveness: the c
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Hernández Gascón, Joan Miquel Clu
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Acknowledgements Verymanypeople,com
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Index of tables Table 1. The local
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Figure 31. Textile distribution tre
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The term “cluster” is used to r
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The last effect of the new focus, a
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Figure 11. Map of the local industr
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Figure 14. Joint work scheme of the
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Figure 16. Main competitiveness rei
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Figure 33. The change in project de
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Catalonia was a pioneer in the use
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Cluster policy, understood as a ser
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A little theory: Marshall, Becattin
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However, the proliferation of regio
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the diversity of clusters themselve
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The first step: the competitive adv
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political environment which conditi
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Figure 2. The clusters of the futur
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1. To invest in lasting long-term c
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4.1 Introduction Following the impa
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4.2 First stage: 1993-2004 4.2.1 Me
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This working method led the members
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4.2.2 A case study: the leather tan
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added to this industry’s strong d
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Figure 9. Comparison between the pr
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Within this framework, Igualada’s
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4.2.3 Some lessons More than twenty
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Finally, and with the aim of transm
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the initial stage was selected, eli
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Table 1. The local production syste
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Table 3. Relative importance of ind
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2. Analysis of the business and str
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It should be noted that, during the
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Table 4. Types of competitiveness r
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Figure 18. Basic data for the kitch
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2. Specialised firms: normally fore
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Figure 22. Main strategic challenge
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Main actions carried out in the kit
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On the one hand, this change in men
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Page 90 and 91: countries in the 1990s. However, th
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Page 94 and 95: total in 2005 was 66.7%; in the Bas
Page 96 and 97: Table 6.Trends in value added by la
Page 98 and 99: There was a considerable amount of
Page 100 and 101: With regard to strategies, the anal
Page 102 and 103: Table 7. Professional profiles of e
Page 104 and 105: In terms of the positive results ac
Page 106 and 107: In 2009, after over fifteen years
Page 108 and 109: Figure 33. The change in project de
Page 110 and 111: implementing the subsequent actions
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Page 118 and 119: It hasalreadybeenmentionedthatclust
Page 120 and 121: 2. Some rationale for territorial s
Page 122 and 123: Twomainreasonsjustifythispeculiarro
Page 124 and 125: of the specific interventions to re
Page 126 and 127: Sincethesenewpoliciesarestillinthei
Page 128 and 129: 7. References Altobelli, C.andCarna
Page 130 and 131: Schmitz, H. (1999): “Collective e
Page 132 and 133: 2. Clusters as building blocks of a
Page 134 and 135: Anumberofempiricalstudieslookatallt
Page 138 and 139: Thelackofagenerallyaccepteddefiniti
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Page 142 and 143: 3.3 Implementing cluster policy to
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Page 146 and 147: Boekholt, Patrice and Shonie McKibb
Page 148 and 149: Fritsch, Michael and Viktor Slavtch
Page 150 and 151: Porter, Michael E.: Clusters and Co
Page 152 and 153: C. Clusters: a strategic tool Anton
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Page 158 and 159: • Gaining insight into a country
Page 160 and 161: Diez, M. A. (2001): “The Evaluati
Page 164: Joan Miquel Hernández Gascón (Val
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