Perspectives on Cluster Evolution: Critical Review and Future Research Issues

Abstract

The past two decades have witnessed an ever-growing scholarly interest in regional clusters. The focus of research has mainly been on exploring why clusters exist and what characteristics “functioning” clusters possess. Although the interest in more dynamic views on clusters is not new, in recent years, however, greater attention has been paid to providing better explanations of how clusters change and develop over time, giving rise to an increasing popularity of the cluster life-cycle approach. This paper discusses the key ideas and arguments put forward by the main protagonists of this approach and identifies several missing elements, such as indifference to place-specific factors, neglect of multi-scalar impacts and underappreciation of the role of human agency. Based on this critical assessment, a number of suggestions for future research are made. We argue that there is a need to study the influence of the wider regional environment on cluster evolution and to explore how cluster development paths are influenced by a multiplicity of factors and processes at various spatial scales. Finally, it is claimed that future research should pay more attention to the role of human agents and the ways they shape the long-term development of regional clusters. We outline how future studies can tackle these issues.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to three reviewers and the guest editor Max-Peter Menzel for very valuable comments on previous versions of this paper. The usual disclaimer applies.

Funding

This work was supported by the European Science Foundation project on “Cluster Life Cycles” and by the Swedish Research Council.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. We are thankful to an anonymous reviewer of a previous version of this paper for valuable comments that helped us to elaborate on and sharpen our argument on this issue.