Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 12.1
Cluster analysis and policy pre-cluster stage
Cluster
dimensions
Indicators and measures
Patterns
Policy guidelines
Spatial
concentration
Geographic spread (boundary) density of
core industry firms
Random; difficult to bound; firms highly
dispersed
Local regional level
1. Workforce improvement
2. Maintain infrastructure
3. Business attraction
4. Business assistance centers
5. Promote economic cooperation; e.g., buying and
selling cooperatives
Macro level (EU or National)
1.Provide grant assistance for lagging regions
2. Workforce development and infrastructure
maintenance
3. Grant support for business assistance
Notes and caveats
1. Scale and scope issues make it difficult to promote/
envision a cluster
2. Pre-cluster conditions imply need to improve
workforce and infrastructure
3. Attract new and retain old firms
4. Hope a part of the economy will attract enough
firms for a take-off
5. Non-productive entrepreneurship will dominate
given scale and scope, networking and knowledge
and information etc. deficiencies
Industry/Cluster
strength
Number of firms in core industry;
employment, income; I-O analysis;
location quotient (LQ)
No core industry so cannot specify
Knowledge and
Information
Patents; university STEM research
funding; industry survey; expert
interview; focus groups
Very few patents; overall university
presence small; S&E and enrollments per
100,000 population small
Entrepreneurship Number of start-ups and churn rate
Productive entrepreneurship low;
non-productive may be high; churn low
Convergence
Agreed upon strategic plan; business
assn. membership; survey; expert
interviews; focus groups
No convergence as no core industry
exists
Networking
Density and complexity of industry/
cluster networks; number of foreign
firms and FDI (inbound and outbound
FDI)
Social networks may be extensive but
business networks largely focused on
business attraction and retention
Cooperation
I-O Analysis; cluster industry survey;
expert interviews; focus groups
Low level of inter-industry dependence;
cooperation may exist but functional
cooperation, e.g., minimal purchasing
from each other locally
Source
: The author
