Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
such as research and human capital development (education) occurred with greater
intensity in the northwest in the vicinity of Seoul and south central in Daejeon.
From the late 1990s the entrepreneurially driven industry transformation of the
shipbuilding industry and cluster experienced geographically diversified
investments not only further in Korea but internationally as explained above in
the network linkages discussion. So the shipbuilding cluster in Korea follows the
path that the life-cycle model asserts. The recent geographic expansion suggests
that the cluster which in the 1990s appears to have been approaching stasis may,
due to renewal, now be in the latter part of the Exploratory Expansion stage or in the
earlier part of the Exploitive Expansion stage.
12.5.5 Industry/Cluster Strength
As noted in the discussion on strategic relations there is evidence that the ship-
building cluster evolved through the exploratory expansion stage and almost to the
end of the exploitive expansion stage by the late 1990s. In fact, one could argue that
there were indications that the cluster was proceeding rapidly toward exhaustion
and decline. However, due to the restructuring that occurred on the part of the major
companies which in all cases was motivated by government leadership, the original
strategic organization of the cluster around three large conglomerates was
restructured which once again increased the heterogeneity of knowledge and
entrepreneurial behavior and internal competitiveness and new external market
knowhow. While it could be argued that the Cluster in terms of dynamics was
approaching Exhaustion, restructuring helped move it toward an earlier life-cycle
stage, the Exploration Expansion stage.
Scale and scope of the shipbuilding cluster was narrow in terms of both size and
diversity in the early and take-off stages of the life-cycle. After take-off both scale
and scope grew with increasing size and product complexity up to the present.
Along the way there have been changes in the rate of scale and scope development.
The major one was in the late 1990s when the shipbuilding industry was
re-organized thus evidencing a renewal trend away from what then appeared to
be an approach nearing Exhaustion. Great increases in scale and scope occurred as
this reforming process unfolded. Today scale and scope continue to grow at a high
rate which suggests in terms of this dimension the shipbuilding cluster has slipped
back to the later part of the Exploratory Expansion stage or the early part of the
Exploitive Expansion stage.
The late 1990s restructuring served to not only renew growth rates and related
attributes associated with the Exploratory Expansion stage of the cluster life-cycle
but also to accelerate the growth in scale and scope of the industry and once again
drive knowledge toward greater heterogeneity. It also induced de-concentration of
the cluster members' product mix and markets as operations and infrastructure in
other parts of the world were established thus leading to a major decentralization
and diversification of the cluster.
