Date
2010
Dewey
Economie industrielle
Sujet
innovation policy; context; network performance; networks; clusters
JEL code
O38; O25
Conference name
26th EGOS Colloquium
Conference date
07-2010
Conference city
Lisbonne
Conference country
Portugal
Author
Weil, Thierry
Glaser, Anna
Gallié, Emilie-Pauline
Mérindol, Valérie
Lefebvre, Philippe
Pallez, Frédérique
Type
Communication / Conférence
Item number of pages
29
Abstract (EN)
French “competitiveness clusters” were set up in 2005 to strengthen cooperation
between small and large enterprises, and training and research institutions working on similar
topics and located in the same geographical area, with the aim of making this area more
competitive and attractive through enhanced innovation. Our analysis of this set of 71
apparently similar networks has given us an opportunity to investigate the factors explaining
the differences in their performance.
In attempting this analysis, we encounter several difficulties, such as, how can we:
(1) measure a cluster’s performance?
(2) characterize its context and resources?
(3) characterize the governance of the network and the actions it takes?
(4) deal with the fact that the network’s boundaries evolve due to both the fluctuating
commitment of some stakeholders and the implementation of the cluster’s strategy,
which changes the context and the available resources?
(5) deal with actors’ learning at all levels (i.e., the cluster’s members, organization, rulers
and fund providers), which changes the rules of the game while the game is still being
played?
Last but not least, the networks that we have taken to be homologous because they have been
selected, labelled and regulated by the same rules, actually display significant qualitative
differences. There may be different kinds of clusters following substantially different
performance models. We could then define a cluster typology so that comparisons would be
much more relevant between clusters of the same class. This could eventually lead us to
create performance indicators adapted to the specificities of each class of clusters and
improve the monitoring of individual clusters and of the national cluster policy.