Clusters and competitiveness - PRO INNO Europe

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Figure 14. Joint work scheme of the Directorate General for Industry and ACC1Ó for competitiveness reinforcement initiatives in the field of clusters Diagnosing the cluster • Defining the business • Competitive analysis • Identifying areas to improve competitiveness OBSERVATORY FOR INDUSTRIAL FORESIGHT (OPI) Diagnosis report Presentation to companies and other cluster agents 18 CLUSTERS AND COMPETITIVENESS: THE CASE OF CATALONIA (1993-2010) Implementation and follow-up: • Strategic change • Innovation • Internationalisation • Ad hoc training CLUSTER PROMOTION AREA (ACC1Ó) Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 23 Month 24 Source: Observatory for Industrial Foresight. Monitoring and Networking: • Seminars • Workshops • etc. Local partners (innovation point or PIC network) One of the most important innovations introduced in the second stage of the cluster policy of the Catalan government was the use of a new mechanism, specially conceived and designed to offer support to projects of transformation following on from competitiveness reinforcement initiatives. The New Business Opportunities programme (NON) appeared in 2004 as an operational tool to facilitate strategic change in small and medium enterprises through the co-financing of the production of a business plan, and later through financial support to adapt company structure to the requirements of the new business model that it wished to develop. This aid towards structural change may be assigned to training programmes, specific external consultancy, research and development, investment in fixed assets, etc 2 . Finally, this second stage also saw the beginning of a gradual process of diversification of the competitiveness reinforcement initiatives being set up. An initial change consisted of beginning to work with groups of companies which did not fit the classic definition of a cluster, being neither from the same sector nor located in the same geographical area. In line with this new focus, strategy was the key factor in identifying a group of companies with a high potential for implementing competitive improvement projects. Needless to say, geographical concentration ceased to be relevant in these projects, as the common features among the companies were more related to sharing the same strategy and similar competitive challenges than to geographic proximity. 2 The NON programme helps to finance up to 75% of the costs of producing a business plan, with a maximum of 60,000 euros per company and up to 100,000 euros, also per company, for structural adaptation costs. (www.acc10.cat)
Anotherstepintheprocessofdiversificationofthecompetitivenessreinforcementinitiatives came with projects related to the so-called “emergent clusters” or “potential clusters”, i.e. with the identification of groups of companies which, despite having a limited critical mass, have a high growth potential. These projects were orientated towards identifying obstacles in their development and also towards achieving an improved structuring of the cluster they belonged to. Examples of targeted sectors with- these characteristics are photonics and renewable energies. A third example of the diversification of projects developed from 2004 onwards can also been seen in the “territorial innovation plans”. In this case, the starting point was the territory rather than the sector or strategy. Starting with a specific territory (often a county, but sometimes a city or metropolitan area), strategic and competitive analysis was used to draw up development plans based on projects with drawing power, carried out by key people. These projects, implemented in particular by the Cluster Promotion Area of ACC1Ó, were supported by the cooperation of local bodies such as town and county councils. During this second stage, over twenty competitiveness reinforcement initiatives were launched by the Catalan government’s industrial departments. The majority of these initiatives were still based on the traditional approach of a geographical micro-cluster, but there was already a significant number of more innovative projects orientated towards strategy. Table 4. Types of competitiveness reinforcement projects based on cluster methodology, implemented by the Directorate General for Industry and ACC1Ó Project type Example Geographical scope Objectives Initiatives to reinforce competitiveness in the cluster area Project to identify successful strategies at sector level Bathroom fittings in Baix Llobregat One or more counties Analysis and reinforcement of the cluster’s competitiveness via strategic change and other areas of improved competitiveness Growth and profit strategies in clothing textiles Incipient clusters Optics and photonics Photovoltaics Local innovation and development plan Source: Observatory for Industrial Foresight. Innovation plan for the county of Osona Innovation plan for Manresa Variable Identification of emerging growth and profitability strategies in traditional sectors. Strategy-based grouping and work Variable Mapping and identification of emerging and potential clusters and stimulating their growth City or county Analysis of the area’s potential for innovation and growth and designing initiatives for its development EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 19
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 16 and 17: The last effect of the new focus, a
Page 18 and 19: Figure 11. Map of the local industr
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
Page 66 and 67: Table 1. The local production syste
Page 68 and 69: 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
Page 164:
Joan Miquel Hernández Gascón (Val
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