Article: Cluster Competitiveness: The Six Negative Forces Journal: Journal of Business and Management (JBM) 2009 Vol.15 No.1 pp.73 - 93 Abstract: Regional clusters have gained great popularity with international development agencies, local authorities, planners, and corporate strategists, as a means of achieving greater competitiveness and economic growth. A considerable body of work has rendered strong theoretical and empirical support to the cluster approach and governments have poured in enormous amounts of funds to promote and facilitate cluster strategies. Yet, not all clusters are sustainable. This paper pulls together insights from knowledge management, strategic management as well as social network, social identity, and social exchange theories to provide a comprehensive understanding of the socio-political dynamics of clusters. Specifically, it is argued that the competitiveness of regional clusters can be compromised by the development of a homogeneous macroculture, social identity discrepant, power imbalance, market rationalization, lack of untraded interdependencies and overwhelming negative externalities. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Cluster Competitiveness: The Six Negative Forces

Authors: Josephine Chinying Lang

Addresses: Author address listing can be found in the "About the Authors" section at the end of the article.

Abstract: Regional clusters have gained great popularity with international development agencies, local authorities, planners, and corporate strategists, as a means of achieving greater competitiveness and economic growth. A considerable body of work has rendered strong theoretical and empirical support to the cluster approach and governments have poured in enormous amounts of funds to promote and facilitate cluster strategies. Yet, not all clusters are sustainable. This paper pulls together insights from knowledge management, strategic management as well as social network, social identity, and social exchange theories to provide a comprehensive understanding of the socio-political dynamics of clusters. Specifically, it is argued that the competitiveness of regional clusters can be compromised by the development of a homogeneous macroculture, social identity discrepant, power imbalance, market rationalization, lack of untraded interdependencies and overwhelming negative externalities.

Keywords: Cluster competitiveness; regional clusters; socio-political dynamics; macroculture; negative externalities.

DOI: 10.1504/JBM.2009.141170

Journal of Business and Management, 2009 Vol.15 No.1, pp.73 - 93

Published online: 05 Sep 2024 *

Title: Cluster Competitiveness: The Six Negative Forces

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