Clusters and competitiveness - PRO INNO Europe

the conventional wisdom of the sector. Wishing to break away from traditional stereotypes,
it laid emphasis on a whole series of market-orientated initiatives which, for the first time,
in a clear declaration of intent, were publicly presented, not just to the large end product
manufacturers, but to all the cluster’s key agents.
The first point in this action plan concerned something that was apparently very simple but
actually very complex: creating a climate of trust among, on the one hand, a significant
proportion of the cluster’s firms and, on the other, the public administration that was
suggesting they should take part in a hitherto unknown process. In line with the procedure
previously described, the Cluster Promotion Department of ACC1Ó, the administration’s
unit in charge of the operation, worked in collaboration with the council of Sant Feliu de
Llobregat (the town where most of the cluster’s firms were located), as a local strategic
partner, part of the above-mentioned PIC network.
Figure 23. Action plan for the kitchen and bathroom tap cluster in Baix Llobregat
• Individual strategic change
• Support for technological change
• Explore the possibility of setting up an association of
suppliers and auxiliary firms
• Supplier productivity plan
• Specific management training
• Benchmarking with more advanced tap clusters (Italy)
• Create a cluster website with key information
• Actions on request
• etc.
Source: Observatory for Industrial Foresight.
Once this climate of had been achieved by making numerous visits to most of the cluster’s
firms, reviewing with them the competitive diagnosis carried out by the OPI and discussing
the competitiveness reinforcement initiatives to be carried out, the project’s actions started
to be implemented early in 2006.
THE CATALAN GOVERNMENT’S CLUSTER POLICY
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