Abstract
It has been well established in literature that small industry clusters (SICs) have an impressive record of innovation and knowledge transmission. This paper explores the possibilities in this regard in third-world clusters through an empirical study of three SICs in India. The paper first examines the essential reasons for the survival and growth of clusters temporally over centuries. Then, it critically assesses the factors that threaten the clusters at present—some of which, it appears, might actually be fatal for these clusters. And finally, the paper concludes that though an enhancement in capacity to innovate and transfuse knowledge would contribute to the sustenance of these clusters, this cannot happen unless decisive intervention occurs to preserve and sustain the fundamental strengths of these clusters.
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Notes
Decentralised system of production in small industry clusters.
The state of Uttar Pradesh is one of the largest and most populous states in India; situated in North-Central India, east of New Delhi in the vast Indo-Gangetic plains, it has been politically extremely significant during the Mughal period. At present, though, economically, UP is one of the poorer and industrially backward regions in the country.
The field work was done during 2004 in a sequential order primarily by the two authors in several rounds—first at Kanpur, then at Varanasi and finally at Moradabad.
At the time of the field work, the statutory minimum wages of the Central Government for an unskilled worker for an 8-our day were around Rs. 90–100/.
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Acknowledgments
We have gathered enormous debt during the course of fieldwork for the study and it would be impossible to acknowledge every individual here. We would like to record our heartfelt gratitude to the several gifted artisans and craftsmen who generously shared the exhilaration and sorrows of their livelihood to us. Part of the field work was sponsored by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India. We would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers and editors of AI and Society for their critical comments. And finally, all the faults remaining in the paper are solely our responsibilities.
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R. Varman and M. Chakrabarti have equally contributed to the paper.
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Varman, R., Chakrabarti, M. Notes from small industry clusters: making sense of knowledge and barriers to innovation. AI & Soc 26, 393–415 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-011-0319-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-011-0319-5