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Abstract
This paper studies why some clusters in a certain region are more dynamic than others, even though they all operate within the same basic innovative regional environment. We first established which variables were to be used to measure the dynamics of a regional cluster. We included both inputs and outputs of the innovative regional environment and also cluster development-related variables. We then applied this to two clusters located in the Valencian Region, Spain. The first cluster is involved in the footwear industry, while the other is involved in the ceramic tile industry. The evolution of the variables which had an influence on their dynamics was studied to determine which variables had similar behaviours and how their evolution was related to the clusters' life cycle and to the evolution of regional income. The results show that regional innovation impacts on clusters’ productivity and that when clusters lose their dynamism, employment, sales and exports are the most affected variables.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (Spain) for financially supporting this research under “Programa de Apoyo a la I+D 2009” (Research Project no. 2677). They express their gratitude to Professor Rafael Romero Villafranca, Head of the Department of Statistics and Operational Research at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, for his invaluable assistance in the statistical analysis.
Notes
See Section 2.
Bureau van Djik data base which contains financial information about Spanish and Portuguese companies.
