Business Clusters

The book contains a selection of papers on business clusters in its multiple perspectives. It has evolved from the research symposium organized by the The Society for Global Business and Economic Development (SGBED), an international group of academicians, at Dubai during January 2009. It begins with an introduction to the concept of clusters, and then examines their link to a host of strategic issues, such as their nexus to competitive advantage, their performance vis-à-vis their competitors who are not similarly agglomerated, and the challenges in measuring the performance of clusters. Regional economic clusters have serious policy implications. Governments, local as well as national, have used clusters as the unit for investment and infrastructure upgrading policies. It focuses on the normative aspects as well as practices and provides pointers on how public policies can help the development and growth of regional economic clusters. With numerous examples and cases from a host countries such as Dubai, Mexico, Spain and Karnataka (India), the book is a must read for all students of business strategy.

In Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Business Clusters, Panos Piperopoulos provides a comprehensive introduction to what entrepreneurship is all about, how and why entrepreneurs innovate and how innovation systems operate. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) constitute the backbone of most economies, so the author examines their characteristics and the crucial role played by the owners and entrepreneurs who innovate to ensure the survival and continued growth of their firms. He also includes the particular phenomena that arise where the entrepreneurs are either female or from ethnic groups, or where the context is that of a developing region or country. The importance of co-operative strategic alliances and networks between firms is discussed, along with how these strengthen SMEs' competitiveness. The concept of open innovation has been proposed as a new paradigm for the management of innovation and the author presents a hypothetical model for enhancing the competitiveness and performance of SMEs by properly utilizing employees' creative potential, emotional intelligence, tacit knowledge and innovative ideas. The contemporary model of business clusters, involving partnerships with competitors, agents, universities, research centres and local, regional and national governments is discussed. The ways, means and methods through which SMEs' competitiveness and innovation can be enhanced within business clusters is illustrated by cases that identify four types of SMEs, that behave differently and play different roles in the networks and clusters of which they form a part, but all of whose performance and competitiveness is a function of their position and role in the wider scheme of things.

This book looks at the importance and potential of cluster initiatives in Central and Eastern Europe. Existing clusters are mapped, recent policy advances are described and conclusions are drawn on the potential of business clusters to foster economic growth.

In Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Business Clusters, Panos Piperopoulos provides a comprehensive introduction to what entrepreneurship is all about, how and why entrepreneurs innovate and how innovation systems operate. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) constitute the backbone of most economies, so the author examines their characteristics and the crucial role played by the owners and entrepreneurs who innovate to ensure the survival and continued growth of their firms. He also includes the particular phenomena that arise where the entrepreneurs are either female or from ethnic groups, or where the context is that of a developing region or country. The importance of co-operative strategic alliances and networks between firms is discussed, along with how these strengthen SMEs' competitiveness. The concept of open innovation has been proposed as a new paradigm for the management of innovation and the author presents a hypothetical model for enhancing the competitiveness and performance of SMEs by properly utilizing employees' creative potential, emotional intelligence, tacit knowledge and innovative ideas. The contemporary model of business clusters, involving partnerships with competitors, agents, universities, research centres and local, regional and national governments is discussed. The ways, means and methods through which SMEs' competitiveness and innovation can be enhanced within business clusters is illustrated by cases that identify four types of SMEs, that behave differently and play different roles in the networks and clusters of which they form a part, but all of whose performance and competitiveness is a function of their position and role in the wider scheme of things.

This book highlights the importance of clusters for the competitiveness of companies and is divided into three interrelated parts. The first part focuses on localization economics, cluster theory, the role of innovation, and innovation partnerships in cluster formations. The second part of the volume presents original research carried out from 2018 to 2020 in the field of both natural clusters and organized clusters. In addition to examining the impact of cluster membership, the contributions also focus on additional factors that may affect the financial performance of companies. In the third part, an additional survey and case studies are presented, to examine the specifics of family businesses in selected industrial districts of the textile, glass, and jewelry industries. A broader overview of the development of dominant industries in the selected districts is provided, for an easier understanding of the relationships of competition among companies and locations in the business clusters. The book evaluates implications for microeconomic and macroeconomic policies and provides proposals for corporate inter-organizational behavior. This volume addresses scholars and researchers of economics, business, and management, as well as policy-makers and practitioners interested in a better understanding of innovation and performance drivers of business clusters.

During the 1980s the Marshallian concept of industrial district (ID) became widely popular due to the resurgence of interest in the reasons that make the agglomeration of specialised industries a territorial phenomenon worth being analysed. The analysis of clusters and IDs has often been limited, considering only the local dimension of the created business networks. The external links of these systems have been systematically under-evaluated. This book offers a deep insight into the evolution of these systems and the internal-external mechanism of knowledge circulation and learning. This means that the access to external knowledge (information or R&D cooperative research) or to productive networks (global supply chains) is studied in order to describe how external knowledge is absorbed and how local clusters or districts become global systems. It provides a unified approach; showing that existing capabilities expand when locally embedded knowledge is combined with accessible external knowledge. In this view, external knowledge linkages reduce the danger of cognitive ‘lock-in’ and ‘over-embeddedness’, which may become important obstacles to local learning and innovation when technological trajectories and global economic conditions change. A selection of international experts

This book is the first to cover marketing management issues in geographically remote industrial clusters (GRICs). The phenomena of GRICs have increased in importance, especially in the Nordic countries, due to changes in industry structures as well as political ambitions. The practice of marketing and marketing management is not singular to industry clusters in Nordic countries. Remote areas in parts of the United States, South and Central America, and South East Asia exhibit similar tendencies. The problems faced by many entrepreneurial managers managing start-up or even existing enterprises are complex and require an in-depth understanding not only of the problems themselves, but also of the contextual framework in which these problems need to be solved. This book contains original cases that cover issues like cluster formation, information gathering, marketing strategies and operations, and information-technology. Examples come from industries like textile & furniture, automobile, agro-machinery, food, wine, software, and management consulting.

Clusters of specialized businesses are being promoted around the world, aided by high-profile examples such as Silicon Valley. Using evidence from high- and low-income economies, as well as detailed case studies that show the special conditions behind successful clusters, this book provides a new vantage point on this high-interest topic, making it ideal for students of business location, policy-makers and managers seeking a real-world understanding of clustering.