Clusters and competitiveness - PRO INNO Europe

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Table 3. Relative importance of industries in LPSs in Catalan industry as a whole Data from 2003 Sectors LPS Firms % of sector in Catalonia 66 CLUSTERS AND COMPETITIVENESS: THE CASE OF CATALONIA (1993-2010) LPS workers % of sector in Catalonia LPS turnover (*) % of sector in Catalonia Food and beverages 576 20.4% 12,288 16.4% 3,475 19.5% Textiles-clothing and leather 1,190 20.2% 22,564 26.4% 2,400 28.5% Wood, furniture and cork 441 10.5% 4,238 12.6% 525 17.0% Paper, publishing and graphic arts 1,056 25.9% 20,881 35.6% 2,650 29.7% Chemical industries 384 33.8% 25,470 40.5% 11,000 59.6% Plastic materials 803 52.3% 28,182 76.2% 3,800 70.0% Metallurgy and metal products 2,680 36.3% 39,018 42.8% 4,250 40.3% Machinery and mechanical equipment 798 30.1% 14,078 27.9% 2,155 33.2% Electrical and electronic equipment 383 32.8% 15,378 38.7% 3,250 39.5% Transport materials 449 64.6% 50,714 90.5% 11,975 84.8% Various manufacturing industries (**) 247 – 1,399 – 160 – Total sectors 9,007 26% 234,210 36% 45,640 39% (*) In millions of euros. (**) A comparison cannot be made as this is residual and multi-sectoral. Source: Hernández, J. M. et al. (2005): Map of Local Industrial Production Systems in Catalonia. 4.3.2 Operational rethinking It has already been mentioned that mapping existing local industrial production systems in Catalonia opened the door, in 2004, to the second stage in cluster policy in Catalonia. This mapping initiative aimed to find out more about the situation on the ground and critically review the previous experience, in particular everything related to the limitations of a model focused exclusively on micro-clusters and put into practice by subcontracting all the competitiveness reinforcement initiatives launched. It led to an operational reappraisal in two broad areas: • On the one hand, a knowledge and information unit was created within the public administration, one of whose goals was to analyse the industrial sectors and clusters of the Catalan economy in order to diagnose their situation and propose measures and initiatives to reinforce their competitiveness. • On the other hand, a gradual process of diversifying competitiveness reinforcement initiatives was started. Creating the Observatory for Industrial Foresight In effect, in the Strategic Agreement for the Internationalisation, Quality of Employment, and Competitiveness of the Catalan Economy, signed by the Catalan government and by the main economic and social institutions in the country (Foment de Treball, FEPIME, PIMEC,
UGT, and CC.OO.) 7 , the need to establish an Observatory for Industrial Foresight (OPI) was agreed. The OPI would be responsible for analyzing the problems of the various industrial sectors, predicting their evolution and proposing measures to strengthen competitiveness. Although the word ‘cluster’ did not appear at that time among the tasks attributed to the Directorate General for Industry 8 , the unit, which was assigned to the Directorate General for Industry, (at that time the Department of Industry and Energy), commenced operations with a methodology similar to that of specialist strategic analysis consultants at sectoral level. The first competitive analyses carried out by the OPI were in traditional sectors of Catalan industry, such as the clusters of moulds and dies, sheepskin in the county of Osona and kitchen and bathroom taps in Baix Llobregat. They highlighted the fact that diagnosis was not enough in order to have a concrete effect on companies’ competitiveness; the analysis stage needed to maintain an ongoing relationship with the setting up of competitiveness reinforcement initiatives. To answer this need, a close cooperation was established with a department dedicated to business development created at the Centre for Business Innovation and Development (CIDEM), the agency supporting innovation under the auspices of the government department responsible for industrial 9 matters. This unit then became responsible for implementing competitiveness reinforcement initiatives focused on stimulating and promoting strategic change, and which needed to conform to the diagnoses previously made by the Observatory for Industrial Foresight. This collaboration between the Observatory for Industrial Foresight of the Directorate General for Industry and the Business Development Department of CIDEM paved the way for a new cluster policy scheme which had two closely connected stages, combining analysis and subsequent execution of competitiveness reinforcement initiatives. During the first phase, which lasted between three and five months, the OPI produced a document of strategic and competitive analysis by means of a process in which the holding of interviews (between 25 and 40) with the main companies and agents in the cluster was very important. Briefly, this analysis focused on: 1. Definition of the cluster or group of companies targeted by the initiative and identification of the principal companies and other stakeholders involved. 7 The Strategic Agreement for the Internationalisation, Quality of Employment and Competitiveness of the Catalan economy (hereinafter the Strategic Agreement) was signed for the first time on 16 th February 2005. Measure no. 56 states that “An Observatory for Industrial Foresight shall be created to ascertain the problems of the sectors and companies and, at the same time, to have the information, within the Observatory’s scope, through a process of interlocution of social agents with the administration. The purpose of this Observatory shall be to ascertain the problems of the different Catalan sectors and firms, to predict how they might develop and suggest the design of future lines of action. In order to establish a permanent interlocutor with the Administration and to monitor the agreements contained in this document, the social agents, through the sector commission, shall take part in the areas of work of a sectoral nature of the Observatory for Industrial Foresight according to the needs they jointly consider”. 8 The explicit link between the Observatory for Industrial Foresight and the Catalan government’s cluster policy came about in 2008 with the signing of the revised Strategic Agreement for the period 2008-2011. See: www.acordestrategic.cat. 9 The Centre for Innovation and Business Development (CIDEM) has since merged with the Consortium for the Commercial Promotion of Catalonia (COPCA) to create the new agency dedicated to promoting the competitiveness of Catalan industry (ACC1Ó) (www.acc10.cat). THE CATALAN GOVERNMENT’S CLUSTER POLICY 67
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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
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
Page 66 and 67: Table 1. The local production syste
Page 70 and 71: 2. Analysis of the business and str
Page 72 and 73: It should be noted that, during the
Page 74 and 75: Table 4. Types of competitiveness r
Page 76 and 77: Figure 18. Basic data for the kitch
Page 78 and 79: 2. Specialised firms: normally fore
Page 80 and 81: Figure 22. Main strategic challenge
Page 82 and 83: Main actions carried out in the kit
Page 84 and 85: On the one hand, this change in men
Page 86 and 87: In 2009 the Catalan government’s
Page 88 and 89: As in most regions or countries tha
Page 90 and 91: countries in the 1990s. However, th
Page 92 and 93: For this reason, one of the most re
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
Page 112 and 113: At the same time, the Directorate G
Page 114 and 115: Cluster policy, understood as a ser
Page 116 and 117: 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
Page 154 and 155:
The other characteristic of our pro
Page 156 and 157:
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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