Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

How clusters can encourage entrepreneurship and venture creation. Reasons and advantages

  • Published:
International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The aim of this article is to define what is meant by clusters, their characteristics or determinants and the advantages they generate, focusing on the role they play in boosting entrepreneurship and new venture creation. In clusters, a balance is reached between cooperation and competition which becomes evident in the higher productivity of the companies because of their increased access to inputs, information, technology and institutions; or in greater innovation and venture creation. The cluster incentivizes the entry of new companies or start-ups. The hope is, then, that the new companies will revitalize specific regions where competitiveness has fallen and that entrepreneurship will contribute to economic development and improved country-wide competitiveness.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. When companies cooperate with one another but are not geographically close, we speak of organizational networks.

  2. These approaches are not mutually exclusive since entrepreneurial activity is a human based activity; it does not occur spontaneously within the context of the economic environment, institutions, technological, regulatory or demographic change (Shane 2003: 2).

  3. The studies of Costa-Campí (1988) and Ybarra (1991) provide a first approach to the identification of industrial districts in the cases of Catalonia and the Valencia Autonomous Region.

  4. This study was previously published as Working Paper (no. 05/14) in the Department of Applied Economics at the Autonoma University of Barcelona in 2005.

  5. Hernández et al. (2005) use the same methodology as Boix and Galleto (2006), although with certain adjustments, for Catalonia.

  6. Countering the argument that defends the importance of geographical location, other authors stress that, especially in developed countries, there are other important factors which explain companies’ results, apart from their location, or that, at any rate, only in periods of economic recession are companies especially influenced by their location (Davidsson 1989).

References

  • Aldrich, H. E., & Wiedenmayer, G. (1993). From traits to rates: An ecological perspective on organizational founding. In J. Katz, & R. Brockhaus (Eds.), Advances in enterpreneurship, firm emergence and growth (pp. 145–195). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Almazan, A., Motta, A., & Titman, S. (2006). Firm location and the creation and utilization of human capital. Review of Economics Studies, 74(4), 1305–1327.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arthur, W. B. (1989). Competition technologies, increasing returns and lock-in historical events. Economic Journal, 99, 116–131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arthur, W. B. (1990). Silicon valley locational clusters—when do increasing returns imply monopoly. Mathematical Social Sciences, 19, 235–251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Audretsch, D. B. (1998). Agglomerarion and the location of innovative activity. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 14, 18–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Audretsch, D. B., & Feldman, M. P. (1996). R & D spillovers and the geography of innovation and production. American EconomicReview, 86(3), 630–640.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aydalot, P. (1986). Milieux Innovateurs in Europe. Paris: GREMI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baptista, R., & Swann, P. (1998). Do firms in clusters innovate more. Research Policy, 27, 525–540.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becattini, G. (1979). Sectors and/or districts: Some remarks on the conceptual foundations of industrial economics. Rivista di Economia e Politica Industriale, 1, 123–135.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becattini, G. (1989). Sectors and/or districts: Some remarks on the conceptual foundations of industrial economics. In E. Goodman, et al. (Ed.) Small firms and industrial districts in Italy (pp. 123–135). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becattini, G. (2006). Vicisitudes y potencialidades de un concepto: El Distrito industrial. Economía Industrial, 359, 21–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boix, R., & Galletto, V. (2006). Sistemas locales de trabajo y distritos industriales marshallianos en España. Economía Industrial, 359, 165–184.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brusco, S. (1992). Small firms and the provision of real services. In F. Pyke, & W. Sengenberger (Eds.) Industrial districts and local economic regeneration. Geneva: International Institute for Labour Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Camagni, R. (1991). ‘Local Milieu’, uncertainty and innovation networks: Towards a new dynamic theory of economic space. In Camagni (Ed.) Innovation networks. Spatial perspectives (pp. 121–143). London: Belhaven.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlsson, B. (2002). Institutions, entrepreneurship, and growth: biomedicine and polymers in Sweden and Ohio. Small Business Review, 19, 105–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cawthorne, P. M. (1995). Of networks and markets: The rise and rise of a South Indian town, the example of tiruppur’s cotton knitwear industry. World Develop, 23, 43–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coleman, J. S. (1990). Foundations of social theory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conti, S., Malecki, E., & Oinas, P. E. (1995). The industrial enterprise and its environment: spatial perspective. Aldershot: Avebury.

    Google Scholar 

  • Costa, D., & Kahn, M. (2001). Power copules. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 116, 1287–1315.

    Google Scholar 

  • Costa-Campi, M. T. (1988). Descentramiento productivo y difusión industrial. El modelo de especialización flexible. Papeles de Economía Española, 35, 251–276.

    Google Scholar 

  • Czamanski, D., & Ablas, L. A. (1979). Identification of industrial clusters and complexes: a comparison of methods and findings. Urban Studies, 16, 61–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davidsson, P. (1989). Continued entrepreneurship and small firm growth. Stockholm: Economic Research Institute, Stockholm School of Economics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diamond, C., & Simon, C. (1990). Industrial specialization and the returns to labor. Journal of Labor Economics, 8(2), 175–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dosi, G. (1988). The nature of the innovative process. In G. Dosi, C. Freeman, G. Silverberg, & L. Soete (Eds.), Technical change and economic theory (pp. 221–238). New York: Printer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dumais, G., Ellison, G., & Blaeser, E. (2002). Geographic concentration as a dynamic process. Review of Economics and Statistics, 84(2), 193–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, M. P. (1994). The geography of innovation. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feser, E. J., & Bergman, E. M. (2000). National industry cluster templates: a framework for applied regional cluster analysis. Regional Studies, 34(1), 1–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fujita, M., Krugman, P., & Vanables, A. (1999). The spatial economy: cities, regions and international trade. Cambridge, MA: MIT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glassman, U., & Voelzkow, H. (2001). The governance of local economies in germany. In C. Crouch, P. Le Gales, C. Trigilia, & H. Voelzkow (Eds.) Local production systems in Europe. rise or demise (pp. 79–116). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hernández, J. M., Fontrodona, J., & Pezzi, A. (2005). Mapa dels sistemas productius locals industrials a Catalunya. Papers d’Economia Industrial, 21. Catalonia: Generalitat de Catalunya.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holmes, T. (1999). Localization of industry and vertical disintegration. Review of Economics and Statistics, 81(2), 314–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hull, D. L., Bosley, J. J., Udell, G. G. (1980). Renewing the hunt for the Neffalump: Identifying potential entrepreneurs by personality characteristics. Journal of Small Business, 18(1), 11–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iturrioz Landart, C., Aranguren Querejeta, M. J., Aragón Amonarriz, C., & Larrea Aranguren, M. (2005). La política industrial de cluster/redes mejora realmente la competitividad empresarial? Resultados de la evaluación de dos experiencias en la Comunidad Autónoma de Euskadi. Ekonomiaz, 60, 10–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ivarsson, I. (1999). Competitive industry clusters and inward tnc investments: the case of Sweden. Regional Studies, 33(1), 37–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jaffe, A. B., Trajtenberg, M., & Henderson, R. (1993). Geographical localization of knowledge spillovers as evidenced by patent citations. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 63, 577–598.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johannisson, B., Ramirez-Pasillas, M., & Karlsson, G. (2002). The institutional embeddedness of local inter-firm networks: a leverage for business creation. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 14, 297–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan, J. H., & Ghani, J. A. (2004). Clusters and entrepreneurship: implications for innovation in a developing economy. Journal of Development Entrepreneurship, 9(3), 221–238.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khilstrom, R., & Laffont, J. J. (1979). A general equilibrium entrepreneurial theory of firm formation based on risk aversion. Journal of Political Economy, 87(4), 719–748.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krugman, P. (1991). Trade and geography. Cambridge, MA: MIT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lemarié, S., Mangematin, V., & Torre, A. (2001). Is the creation and development of biotech SMEs localized? Conclusions drawn from the French case. Small Business Economics, 17, 61–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lundvall, B., & Maskell, P. (2000). Nation states and economic development: from national systems of knowledge creation and learning. In G. L. Clark, M. P. Feldman, & M. S. Gertler (Eds.) The Oxford handbook of economic geography (pp. 353–372). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maillat, D. (1996). Regional productive systems and innovative millieux. In Networks of enterprises and local development (Chapter 3). Paris: OECD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malmberg, A., & Maskell, P. (1997). Towards and explanation of regional specialization and industry agglomeration. European Planning Studies, 5(1), 25–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McClelland, D. C. (1961). La sociedad ambiciosa. Madrid: Guadarrama.

  • Marshall, A. (1890). Principles of Economics (8th ed.). London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer-Stamer, J. (1995). Micro-level innovations and competitiveness. World Develop, 23, 143–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitxeo Grajinera, J., Idigoras Gamboa, I., & Vicente Molina, A. (2004). Los clusters como fuente de competitividad: El caso de la Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco. Cuadernos de Gestión, 4(1), 55–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muizer, A., & Hospers, G. J. (2000). SMEs in regional industry clusters. the impact of it and the knowledge economy. Zoetermeer: EIM.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mytelka, L., & Farinelli, F. (2000). Local clusters, innovation systems and sustained competitiveness. Working Paper, Institute for New Technoliges. The Netherlands: United Nations University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Navarro, (2003). Análisis y política de clusters: Teoría y realidad. Ekonomiaz, 53, 14–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, R. R. (1999). The sources of industrial leadership: a perspective on industrial policy. The Economist, 147, 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Donoghue, D., & Gleave, B. (2004). A note on methods for measuring industrial agglomeration. Regional Studies, 34, 419–427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paniccia, I. (1998). One, a hundred, thousands of industrial districts. Organizational variety of local networks of small and medium-sized enterprises. Organization Studies, 4(19), 667–699.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piore, M. J., & Sabel, C. H. F. (1984). The second industrial divide: Possibilities for prosperity. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter, M. E. (1990). The competitive advantage of nations. London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter, M. E. (1998). Clusters and the new economics of competition. Harvard Business Review, 76(6), 77–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter, M. E. (2001). Enhancing the microeconomic foundations of prosperity: the current competitiveness index. In K. Schwab, M. Porter, & J. Sachs (Eds.) The global competitiveness report 2001–2002 (pp. 52–73). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pouder, R., & St John, C. H. (1996). Hot spots and blind spots: geographical clusters of firms and innovation. Academy of Management Review, 21, 1192–1225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Powell, W. W. (1990). Neither market nor hierarchy. Network forms of organization. Research in Organizational Behaviour, 12, 295–336.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prevenzer, M. (1997). The dynamics of industrial clustering in biotechnology. Small Business Economics, 9, 255–271.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pyke, F., & Sengenberger, W. (1992). Industrial districts and inter-firm cooperation in Italy. Geneva: International Institute for Labour Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rocha, H. O. (2002). Entrepreneurship and development through clusters: A theorical model. Paper presented at the British Academy of Management Conference, London.

  • Rocha, H. O. (2004). Entrepreneurship and dvelopment: the role of clusters. a literature review. Small Business Economics, 23(5), 363–400.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rocha, H. O., & Sternberg, R. (2005). Entrepreneurship: the role of clusters theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence from Germany. Small Business Economics, 24, 267–292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romanelli, E. (1989). Organization birth and population variety: A community perspective on origins. In B. Staw, & L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in organization behavior (pp. 211–246). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Romanelli, E., & Schoonhoven, K. (2001). The local origins of new firms. In K. Schoonhoven & E. Romanelli (Eds.), The entrepreneurial dynamic (pp. 40–67). Stanfors, US: Stanfors University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sabel, C. H., & Zeitlin, J. (1985). Historical alternatives to mass production: politics, markets, and technology in 19th century industrialization. Past and Present, 108, 133–176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saxenian, A. (1994). Regional advantage. Culture and competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, A. (1988). New industrial spaces: Flexible production organization and regional development in North America and Western Europe. London: Pion.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shane, S. (2003). A general theory of entrepreneurship. The individual-opportunity nexus. Cheltelham UK: Edward Elgar.

  • Soler, V. (2001). Verificación de las hipótesis del efecto distrito. Economía Industrial, 334, 13–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soler, V. (2006). Nuevas técnicas para la medición del efecto distrito en las aglomeraciones industriales. Economía Industrial, 359, 81–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sorenson, O., & Audia, P. G. (2000). The social structure of entrepreneurial activity: Geographic concentration of footwear production in the United States, 1940–1989. American Journal of Sociology, 106(2), 424–462.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sternberg, R., & Litzenberger, T. (2004). Regional clusters in Germany. Their geography and their relevance for entrepreneurial activities. European Planning Studies, 12(6), 767–791.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Storper, M. (1997). The regional world. New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Storper, M., & Scott, A. J. (1989). The geographical foundations and social regulation of flexible production complexes. In J. Wolch, & M. E. Dear (Eds.) The power of geography: How territory shapes social life (pp. 25–43). London: Unwin Hyman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trullén Thomas, J. (2006). Distritos industriales marshallianos y sistemas locales de gran empresa en el diseño de una nueva estrategia territorial para el crecimiento de la productividad en la economía española. Economía Industrial, 359, 95–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van de Ven, A. H. (1993). The development of an infrastructure for entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 8, 211–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westlund, H., & Bolton, R. (2003). Local social capital and entrepreneurship. Small Business Economics, 21(2), 77–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yamawaki, H. (2002). The evolution and structure of industrial clusters in Japan. Small Business Economics, 18, 121–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ybarra, J. A. (1991). Determinación cuantitativa de distritos industriales: La experiencia del País Valenciano. Estudios Territoriales, 37, 55–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zucker, L. G., Darby, M. R., & Armstrong, J. (1998a). Geographically localized knowledge: spillovers or markets. Economic Inquiry, 36, 65–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zucker, L. G., Darby, M. R., & Brewer, M. B. (1998b). Intellectual human capital and the birth of US biotechnology enterprises. American Economic Review, 88, 290–306.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This paper has been supported by Cátedra Bancaja-Universidad Complutense de Madrid “Jóvenes Emprendedores” and the Project CCG06-UCM-HUM-1052 of the Complutense University of Madrid.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Departamento de Organización de Empresas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain

    Ana María Romero-Martínez & Ángeles Montoro-Sánchez

Authors
  1. Ana María Romero-Martínez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ángeles Montoro-Sánchez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ángeles Montoro-Sánchez.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Romero-Martínez, A.M., Montoro-Sánchez, Á. How clusters can encourage entrepreneurship and venture creation. Reasons and advantages. Int Entrep Manage J 4, 315–329 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-008-0079-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-008-0079-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation