Cluster Life Cycles - Dimensions and Rationales of Cluster Development

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in AbstractWe present a model that explains how a cluster moves through a life cycle and why this movement differs from the industry life cycle. The model is based on three key processes: the changing heterogeneity in the cluster describes the movement of the cluster through the life cycle; the geographical absorptive capacity enables clustered companies to take advantage of a larger diversity of knowledge and the stronger convergence of clustered companies compared to non-clustered companies results in a reduction of heterogeneity. We apply these processes to four stages of the cluster life cycle: emergence, growth, sustainment and decline.JEL-classification: R11, O30, L25

Small Businesses Need Strong Mediators: Mitigating the Disadvantages of Peripheral Localization Through Alliance Formation

“…Thus, the level of heterogeneity in SAB may have been too high, as Menzel and Fornahl (2010) found in their study.…”

“…To adapt to changing environments and exploit synergies between firms, some heterogeneity must exist (Menzel & Fornahl, 2010). Some scholars have argued that cluster homogeneity, including the absence of external actors, provides the highest value for firms.…”

“…The composition of SAA's actors can be argued to represent an appropriate level of heterogeneity in terms of both services/goods provided and firm size (Menzel & Fornahl, 2010). …”

Why do some places succeed when others decline? A social interaction model of cluster viability

“…Such a framework makes it possible to capture interesting cluster pathways, such as path dependence, lock-in, lock-out and phase transitions. More precisely, we are close to an emerging related literature based on the life cycle of clusters (Menzel and Fornahl, 2007;Ter Wal and Boshma, 2007) in order to better capture why and how clusters, as well as the collective advantages associated with them, change over time.…”

“…Finally, as has been mentioned above, we address the question of a more generalized behavior through a stochastic influence response function in order to capture better what should be the life cycle of a cluster (Menzel and Fornahl, 2007;Ter Wal and Boshma, 2007). To that end, we impose only two conditions upon p i ðk i Þ:…”