Clusters and competitiveness - PRO INNO Europe

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The last effect of the new focus, and certainly the most important one, was that it led companies to assume specific responsibilities through their participation in the process. Emphasis was placed on the generation of strategic change in a micro-cluster, and to achieve this end a work dynamic was generated which ranged from holding individual interviews to setting up work groups, organising seminars and business trips. This working method led the members of the micro-cluster through three consecutive stages. The first identified the main challenges of the micro-cluster from the members’ point of view. The second united the members in a common task: formulating a joint proposal for their vision of the future. Finally, the third stage, based on the work of the previous ones, defined the guidelines to be followed in order to strengthen the microcluster’s competitiveness. Within this theoretical framework, over twenty specific initiatives to strengthen competitiveness at micro-cluster level were set up in Catalonia between 1993 and 2004, developed as part of a largely non-interventionist industrial policy, recommending strategies decided by the companies themselves, and offering support focused on opportunities rather than problems. Figure 7. Competitiveness reinforcement initiatives in Catalonia (1993-2004) Source: Observatory for Industrial Foresight. LLEIDA Agricultural machinery Construction materials ANOIA Leather tanning Knitted fabrics 14 CLUSTERS AND COMPETITIVENESS: THE CASE OF CATALONIA (1993-2010) VALLÈS Consumer electronics Professional electronics Textile technology Automotive plastics Railways Aerospace MONTSIÀ Household furniture OSONA Wooden toys GIRONA Meat Meat technology LA BISBAL Ceramics LLORET Tourism MARESME Knitted fabrics BARCELONA Clothing Jewellery Publishing Motorcycles Audiovisuals Pharmaceuticals With some exceptions, such as tourism in Lloret or jewellery in Barcelona, practically all the initiatives were conducted in strategic segments (knitwear, clothing, machinery, motorcycles, meat products, etc.) belonging to industrial sectors with a significant presence in Catalonia (textiles, metals, food), and whose geographical distribution resembles that of industry as a whole, resulting in them being concentrated largely in Barcelona and its area of influence (Vallès, Maresme, etc.).
During the first stage of this new policy, the Catalan government: • experienced a modification in its dialogue with industry • benefited from a better strategic knowledge of the sectors it worked with • identified the various support mechanisms and improvements in coordination needed in order to aid companies. The main result was probably that the Administration was able to observe how, within the framework of the projects resulting from the new industrial policy, a significant change occurred in the parameters governing its relationship with companies, moving from a rather demanding position to a more positive attitude aimed at strengthening competitiveness. This occurred, for example, in the case of the tanneries micro-cluster, whose companies began by demanding a relaxation of environmental protection measures, and ended up promoting a joint riverside plant and a common centre of research and development, two projects which regarded environmental protection as an opportunity to strengthen competitiveness. For their part, the companies participating in the initiatives: • received a strategic analysis of the competitive position of their business • received a boost to joint initiatives, because on certain occasions it is possible to cooperate in order to compete under better conditions • benefitedfromastrengtheningofthesectoralstructure,asthemicro-clusterstheyworked with sometimes lacked associations to unite them or improve their competitiveness. The second stage of cluster policy in Catalonia (2004-2009): consolidation In 2004, after ten years’ experience, a decision was taken which opened the door to the second stage of competitiveness reinforcement initiatives in Catalonia.This consisted of the creation of a map of local industrial production systems in the country, following guidelines laid down by the European Union, which considered that the mapping of clusters was a key element in the definition and execution of a cluster policy, and encouraged member states to carry out research with this objective in mind. It could be seen from the map that there were 42 local industrial production systems in Catalonia, composed of 9,000 industrial companies, employing approximately 235,000 people, and generating a turnover of over 45,000 million euros. These figures represented 26% of companies, 36% of employment, and 39% of industrial turnover, thus demonstrating the clustered nature of the Catalan economy. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 15
Page 1: Clusters and competitiveness: the c
Page 4 and 5: Hernández Gascón, Joan Miquel Clu
Page 7: Acknowledgements Verymanypeople,com
Page 10 and 11: Index of tables Table 1. The local
Page 12 and 13: Figure 31. Textile distribution tre
Page 14 and 15: The term “cluster” is used to r
Page 18 and 19: Figure 11. Map of the local industr
Page 20 and 21: Figure 14. Joint work scheme of the
Page 22 and 23: Figure 16. Main competitiveness rei
Page 24 and 25: Figure 33. The change in project de
Page 26 and 27: Catalonia was a pioneer in the use
Page 28 and 29: Cluster policy, understood as a ser
Page 31 and 32: A little theory: Marshall, Becattin
Page 33 and 34: However, the proliferation of regio
Page 35 and 36: the diversity of clusters themselve
Page 37 and 38: The first step: the competitive adv
Page 39 and 40: political environment which conditi
Page 41 and 42: Figure 2. The clusters of the futur
Page 43: 1. To invest in lasting long-term c
Page 46 and 47: 4.1 Introduction Following the impa
Page 48 and 49: 4.2 First stage: 1993-2004 4.2.1 Me
Page 50 and 51: This working method led the members
Page 52 and 53: 4.2.2 A case study: the leather tan
Page 54 and 55: added to this industry’s strong d
Page 56 and 57: Figure 9. Comparison between the pr
Page 58 and 59: Within this framework, Igualada’s
Page 60 and 61: 4.2.3 Some lessons More than twenty
Page 62 and 63: Finally, and with the aim of transm
Page 64 and 65: 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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In 2009 the Catalan government’s
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As in most regions or countries tha
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countries in the 1990s. However, th
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For this reason, one of the most re
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total in 2005 was 66.7%; in the Bas
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Table 6.Trends in value added by la
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There was a considerable amount of
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With regard to strategies, the anal
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Table 7. Professional profiles of e
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In terms of the positive results ac
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In 2009, after over fifteen years
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Figure 33. The change in project de
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implementing the subsequent actions
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At the same time, the Directorate G
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Cluster policy, understood as a ser
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entirely to this topic. This centre
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It hasalreadybeenmentionedthatclust
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2. Some rationale for territorial s
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Twomainreasonsjustifythispeculiarro
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of the specific interventions to re
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Sincethesenewpoliciesarestillinthei
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7. References Altobelli, C.andCarna
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Schmitz, H. (1999): “Collective e
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2. Clusters as building blocks of a
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Anumberofempiricalstudieslookatallt
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and othercompaniesthatturnintoaclus
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Thelackofagenerallyaccepteddefiniti
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aswellassupportersofclusterpolicy(a
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3.3 Implementing cluster policy to
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as a way to leverage existing agglo
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Boekholt, Patrice and Shonie McKibb
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Fritsch, Michael and Viktor Slavtch
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Porter, Michael E.: Clusters and Co
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C. Clusters: a strategic tool Anton
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The other characteristic of our pro
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they arenotrepresentedbyotherassoci
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• Gaining insight into a country
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Diez, M. A. (2001): “The Evaluati
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Joan Miquel Hernández Gascón (Val
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