Clusters and competitiveness - PRO INNO Europe

Cluster policy, understood as a series of industrial and business policy initiatives aimed
at improving the competitive efficiency of a group of companies, and their continuous
adaptation to the challenges of the global market, began to be developed by the Catalan
government in 1993.
Shortly before, in 1990, Michael Porter had published The Competitive Advantage of Nations,
the book which paved the way for the use of clusters as a public policy tool for boosting
competitiveness.
Catalonia was therefore one of the first regions in the world to use a methodology aimed
at boosting competitiveness in a geographical area by improving the strategy and working
environment of its companies, and this effort was recognised by Michael Porter himself in
his work On Competition (1998).
However, much has happened since 1993. Cluster policy has achieved undeniable
prominence everywhere: the European Cluster Observatory states that, worldwide,
there are currently over 2,000 competitiveness reinforcement initiatives based on
the use of this industrial and business policy tool, and the European Commission is
defining the basic guidelines of a cluster policy within the European Union (European
Commission, 2009). It therefore seems reasonable to reflect on our experience and
raise the question of future challenges and opportunities. Cluster policies should be
refocused with a wider perspective centred on productivity growth and international
relations, given the progressive international fragmentation of the value chain and the
growing importance of an improvement in productivity within a context where industrial
activities (manufacturing and production services) are central to economic growth and
competitiveness (Ghemawat, P., Vives, X., 2009).
This is the purpose of this book in the case of Catalonia, taking into account the abovementioned
context. Basically, the book reviews the cluster policy developed by the Catalan
government, offers a critical analysis of its results, and proposes a framework of reference
for the future. Chapter 2 makes some brief references to the theoretical context of the
clusters and their policy within the economy and other social sciences. Chapter 3 explains
the first steps in cluster policy in Catalonia as from the appearance of Porter’s book in 1990,
while chapter 4 offers a detailed historical review of the policy, defining two basic periods
- 1993-2004 and 2004-2009, and explaining the methodological criteria and some specific
examples. Chapter 5 analyses the principal causes leading to the need for a change in the
26 CLUSTERS AND COMPETITIVENESS: THE CASE OF CATALONIA (1993-2010)