A comparative analysis of cluster
dynamics in the cities of Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Helsinki,
Leipzig, Lyon, Manchester, Munich, Rotterdam and Vienna
- Professor Leo van den
Berg
- Drs. Erik Braun
- Drs. Willem van Winden
European Institute for
Comparative Urban Research
- Erasmus University Rotterdam
TABLE OF CONTENTS
II. FRAMEWORK OF
REFERENCE
1.
Introduction
2. Urban growth and decline in Europe
and new growth sectors
- 2.1 Urban growth and decline in
Europe
- 2.2 New growth sectors in European
cities
-
- 3. Urban growth and networks :
towards a cluster approach
-
- 3.1 Introduction
- 3.2 Interorganisational networks
4. Urban growth clusters : towards a
framework of analysis
- 4.1 Introduction
- 4.2 General conditions: the economic,
spatial and cultural context.
- Economic
conditions
- Spatial
conditions
- Cultural
conditions
- Cluster specific
conditions
- 4.3 Cluster specific conditions
4.4 Organising capacity
4.5 Some final notes on the
methodology
References
1. Introduction
Sustainable economic gr owth is of high
interest to European cities : it i s indispensable to
further the well-being and prosperity of citizens and
firms, and to generate employment. Thus, for urban
managers of European cities, it is important to gain
insight into the growth opportunities in their cities, so
that they can take the appropriate measures. This study
wants to contribute to the understanding of new growth
opportunities for European cities, and to provide scope
for efficient and effective policy aimed at sustainable
development strategies. This report starts with a general
overview of issues related to urban economic development.
Next, it includes detailed analyses of " growth clusters"
in nine metropolitan cities in Europe: Amsterdam (The
Netherlands), Eindhoven (The Netherlands), Helsinki
(Finland), Leipzig (Germany), Lyon (France), Manchester
(UK), Munich (Germany), Rotterdam (The Netherlands) and
Vienna (Austria). This short introductory chapter
contains the general background of the research, a first
introduction of the participating cities ( section 2),
and outlines of the organisation of the report (section
3).
2. Background
Economic development and employment
growth is of central interest to most urban regions in
Europe. The Economic Development and Urban Regeneration
Committee (EDURC) of Eurocities has worked on the issue
of urban economic growth for the last few years.IIlan
EDURC-studyof1997, some growth sectors in European cities
were identified. Although the growth perspectives differ
among European cities, in general a number of sectors
have been put forward by the cities as growth sectors.
Examples are multimedia, cultural business and
environmental technology.
It was observed, however, that growth
increasingly occurs through networks surpassing sectors.
The feeling was that cities need to gain insight into the
growth-processes in that perspective, to pursue
successfully effective growth-strategies and to benefit
from new opportunities. Therefore, EURICUR (European
IIlstitute for Comparative Urban Research) has been
invited to undertake the next step and to carry out an
international comparative research into growth clusters
and the scope for urban economic policy. The
investigation concentrates on clusters -or groups of
economic activitiesbecause both the cities and the
researchers feel that growth is triggered in such an
environment. The investigation has been conducted among
member cities of the Eurocities-network. In this
exchangenetwork, some 95 of the larger European cities
(with more than 200,000 inhabitants) participate. The
following cities decided to participate in the
growth-clusters survey: Amsterdam (The Netherlands),
Eindhoven (The Netherl ands) , Helsinki (Finland),
Leipzig (Germany), Lyon (France), Manchester (UK), Munich
(Germany), Rotterdam (The Netherlands) and Vienna
(Austria). The cities differ in size as well as in
economic structure and performance, as can be seen in
table 2.1. On the basis of growth expectations and
opportunities, each city has selected one growth cluster
to be analysed. The medical cluster was chosen by the
cities of Lyon and Vienna, both with a great tradition in
medical research and health care. The media-cluster was
chosen by Munich, Rotterdam and Leipzig, although there
were important differences. In Munich, the media cluster
is very large and very well developed. In Rotterdam, the
media industry is very small, but the municipality
considers this cluster important to broaden the economic
base of the city and to create new employment. For
Leipzig, the situation is again very different: as former
GDR city, Leipzig seeks to reestablish the media cluster
in which it had a great tradition. Helsinki has chosen
the telecom cluster, as this cluster is characterised by
very high growth rates, with Nokia, a world leader in
mobile phone, playing a very important role. Eindhoven
has selected the mechatronics cluster, a high-tech
industrial cluster. For Amsterdam, tourism was the target
cluster. Manchester finally selected the cultural
industries as growth cluster, because of its potential
for urban regeneration.
Table 2.1 Some data on the participating
cities
|
City Inhabitants of
agglomeration
|
GDP/Capita (in ECU,
1995)**
|
Chosen cluster
|
|
Amsterdam
|
717,000
|
12,505 Tourism
|
|
Eindhoven
|
670,000
|
n.k. Mechatronics
|
|
Helsinki
|
920,000
|
16,441 Telecom
|
|
Leipzig
|
502,878*
|
n.k. Media
|
|
Lyon
|
1.262,000
|
13,189 Health
|
|
Manchester
|
2,591,000
|
11,079 Cultural
industries
|
|
Munich
|
1,241,000
|
17,268 Media
|
|
Rotterdam
|
1,065,000
|
13,341 Media
|
|
Vienna
|
1,807,000
|
18,649 Health
|
* Source: Leipzig city
council, 1996 ** Source: Ereco, 1997 in Mayerhofer and
Palme, 1996
3. Organisation of the
report
This report is organised as follows.
Chapter 2 sketches general developments in European
cities, and provides a framework of reference to analyse
the clusters in the nine cities involved. The chapters 3
to 11 contain the case-studies of the participating
cities: Amsterdam (chapter 3), Eindhoven (chapter 4),
Helsinki (chapter 5), Leipzig (chapter 6), Lyon (chapter
7), Manchester (chapter 8), Munich (chapter 9), Rotterdam
(chapter 10), and Vienna (chapter 11). The case-studies
are based on extensive literature study, internet
resources, and in-depth interviewing: in each of the
cities, many interviews with key persons were held to
obtain the right information. Chapter 12 finally contains
the synthesis of the findings: the analysis of the cases
is fed back to the framework of reference, resulting in
conclusions and recommendations about growth cluster
development in European urban regions.
References
EDURC Eurocities economic development and regeneration
committee ( 1997), Growth sectors in European cities
Leipzig City Council ( 1996), Leipzig : Facts and
flgures
Mayerhofer, P. and G. Palme ( 1996),
Wirtschaftsstandort Wien: Positioniering im
Europäischen Städtenetz, WIFO, Wien
- TOP
2. FRAMEWORK OF
REFERENCE
1. Introduction
This chapter sketches a background for
the analysis of growth clusters of European cities, and
develops the framework of reference that is to be used in
the case studies. First, section 2 contains a very brief
overview of the economic development of European cities
since the Second World War. Also, a flrst step is taken
in the detection of possible new growth opportunities for
urban regions in Europe and mechanisms which explain the
growth of new sectors. In section 3 the cluster
perspective is introduced, as a useful tool to analyse
new growth in metropolitan regions at a time when
networks play such a dominant role as organising
principle. Finally, on the basis of the issues raised, a
framework of reference will be presented in section 4.
This framework serves as a basis for the analysis of
urban economic growth sectors in the participating
cities, and as a tool to design policies aimed at
fostering sustainable growth.
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-
2. Urban growth and
decline in Europe and new growth sectors
2.1 Urban growth and
decline in Europe
-
- After the Second World War, Europe
entered the reconstruction era, characterised by high and
enduring economic growth in virtually all European
countries. Industrial activities boomed, and unemployment
levels were very low. This period of growing prosperity
and low unemployment came to an end in the early 1970s,
with the flrst oil crisis. From then on, growth slowed
down (or even turned negative), and unemployment rates
exploded all across Europe. The European economies
entered a period of severe restructuring. One of the most
striking features was the relative decline of activities
that employed many people: energy-extraction activities
(particularly mining) and industrial activity in most
countries, among other factors caused by relative price
changes, strong international competition and
labour-saving innovations in the industry. Cities and
regions that had been dependent on traditional
industries, mostly in the traditional economic core of
North-west Europe (the industrial core in England,
Northrhine-Westphalia in Germany, the industrial regions
of Wallonia and Northern France), had very serious
problems and went into decline. With the decline of
industrial sectors however, the service sector began to
grow in terms of value added and employment. Since the
1980s, activities such as banking, insurance, and
business services have experienced high growth rates.
Other knowledge-intensive activities, such as marketing,
communications and research & development, also
started to grow fast, and contributed to a regeneration
of many large European cities.
Van den Berg (1987) extensively
describes the cycle of urban growth and decline in
Western Europe, under influence of political, social,
economic and demographic factors and changes in
technology. A general development pattern is sketched,
through which most Western European metropolitan areas
went. The cycle has four stages: urbanisation,
sub-urbanisation, dis-urbanisation and re-urbanisation.
The urbanisation stage is associated with the
industrialisation: cities grew fast, as they became the
locus for industries, and attracted migrants from the
countryside. In the sub-urbanisation stage, people began
to move out of the noisy and expensive city centres to
surrounding suburbs, and were enabled to do so because of
increased car ownership and improvements in
infrastructure. Most jobs remained in the city centres.
This stage was followed by a dis-urbanisation stage, when
many people moved even further away from the city centres
to surrounding municipalities, and industrial and service
employment moved from the city cores as well. At the end
of the 1980s, some cities managed to attract new economic
activities and new groups into the city, thus breaking
the downward spiral. This is the re-urbanisation stage.
The most successful cities have recognised that, to
attract business and people, a high quality of the urban
living environment -in terms of housing, shopping,
culture, leisureis a prerequisite (Bramezza, 1996). This
implies that metropolitan governments can do a lot for
the economic fortune of the city by investing properly.
This conclusion is fundamental for a
study of growth clusters in European regions. Clearly,one
of the basic preconditions for the stimulation of growth
clusters of any kind is to provide a living environment
of sufficient quality. Still, the starting positions of
urban regions differ widely. Some cities had not fallen
into decline during the severe restructuring stage,
because they had a very diversified or very modern
economic base. Old industrial or port cities like
Liverpool or Marseille have a much less favourable
starting position to develop or attract new growth
activities than for example London or Montpellier.
Nevertheless, there are examples of successful
regeneration in large industrial cities. Bramezza (1996)
points to the examples of Lille, Manchester and Dortmund,
which have broken the downward spiral thanks to strong
and targeted local development strategies. That evidence
supports the argument of Van den Berg, Braun and Van der
Meer ( 1996) that "organising capacity" in the
metropolitan region is a fundamental factor in urban
economic development.
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- 2.2 New growth
sectors in European cities
As stated above, the decline of
industrial activities severely hit many European cities
in the 1970s and 1980s. The decline was accompanied,
however, by growth of other activities, particularly
banking, business services and R&D. In an attempt to
find out which sectors would be the most promising to
contribute to urban development and regeneration, the
Eurocities Economic Development and Urban Regeneration
Committee conducted a survey, to identify the sectoral
growth and employment expectations of 24 Eurocities in 16
EU countries (EDURC, 1997). This resulted in a ranking of
sectors that cities indicate as growth sectors.
Concerning economic growth, the highest ratings were
assigned to the following sectors (in descending order) :
infonnation technology, telematics, environmental
technologies, media, medicallhealthlsocial work, tourism,
cultural business, education, private services, chemicals
and biotechnology. The expectations of the cities
regarding employment growth were slightly different,
because economic growth is not necessarily accompanied by
employment growth. Some labour-intensive sectors, such as
environmental technologies, tourism and cultural business
are expected to show moderate economic growth but fast
employment growth, while in newer sectors (like
infonnation technology) the reverse is true. One drawback
of the EDURC-survey was that it did not explain factors
behind the growth of several sectors.
There seem to be two basic forces
behind the growth of economic activities: changes in
(consumer) demand, and changes in technology. Technology
changes may increase the productivity of existing
activities, but may also lead to entirely new products.
In most cases, there is interplay between the two. Other
general factors behind the growth of sectors are
political circumstances, and demography. A few examples
may indicate the different weights of the factors and the
interplay between them. The rapid increase of the tourist
industry is mainly driven by changing consumer behaviour.
People have more free time, and spend more money on
entertainment and tourism. The growth of the information
and telematics sector, to give another example, is more
technology-driven: new technological discoveries and fast
developments give an enormous impulse to these
industries. Simultaneously, there is a demand-effect
behind the growth of these industries: the new
technologies offer so many new possibilities to firms and
individuals that they are keen to buy the new products.
Demand is "created" by the new possibilities.
The rapid growth of the health
industries (health care, pharmaceutical industry,
biotechnology) is also due to a combination of
technological development and changing demand. Technology
is developing extremely fast in biotechnology: new
discoveries -in particular in the fields of gene
manipulationhave offered an enormous potential for new
drug developments. But also in medical equipment,
progress is fast. The new possibilities create their own
demand, as they permit treatment of diseases that
formerly could not be treated. The steeply rising
expenditure on health is more or less taken for granted,
as so much value is attached to health. Demographic
developments are a clear engine behind this growth as
well: the ongoing ageing of the population, accompanied
by an increase in chronic diseases and a longer call on
health care. A third example of a growth sector where
technology and demand interact is the communications
industry. The rapid rase of communication demand (of
businesses and consumers) goes hand in hand with
innovations in communication (internet applications,
mobile telephones).
Political factors also affect the
development of economic activity. National governments
-and increasingly also supranational bodies such as the
EC -are highly influential, as they create conditions
that are favourable or unfavourable to growth in certain
areas. Different types of national policy have impacts on
sectoral growth: legal, fiscal and economic policies, but
also education and R&D policies play a role. The
success of the telecommunications sector in Scandinavia,
for instance, was mainly due to early market
liberalisation in these countries. This gave Scandinavian
telecommunication firms a lead over their competitors. On
the health sector in Europe, national governments have a
major influence, as this sector is highly regulated. In
the development of knowledge-intensive activities,
education and R&D policies are influential.
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3. Urban growth and
networks : towards a cluster approach
3.1 Introduction
As pointed out in the last section,
the growth of certain activities is triggered by
fundamental developments in (consumer) demand,
technology, politics and demography. However, there are
reasons to doubt to what extent sectoral analysis is the
adequate tool to analyse urban economic growth. Many
indications suggest that increasingly, urban economic
growth seems to emerge from fruitful co-operation between
economic actors, who form innovative complexes of firms
and organisations. It is in these network configurations,
or "clusters", that value-added and employment growth in
urban regions are realised. Since the early 1990s
networks have been recognised as a very important
ordering principle in our economy. In that perspective,
the studying of separate sectors is less suitable, and
should be replaced by a network-approach. The importance
of networks holds on several levels: the level of
flrmslorganisations, and the geographical level (nations,
regions and cities).
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- 3.2
Interorganisational networks
Firms and organisations more and more
actively engage in networks. They recognise that by that
means, they have a better chance to survive in a volatile
international market and under rapid technological
change. Engagement in networks has several advantages. It
makes for flexibility: to benefit from chances, a firm
has to be able to react fast, and to engage in
partnerships with complementary strengths and
capabilities. Networks are particularly important
regarding innovation. Short life cycles urge firms to
innovate constantly in terms of producing new products or
services, developing new processes and accessing new
markets. As technological progress is going faster and
faster and consumers are getting more whimsical,
participation in a network enables a rlrm to concentrate
on core capabilities, and provides access to resources
(such as specific know-how, technology, financial means,
products, assets, market-access etc.) in other rlrmS and
organisations. This helps them to improve their
competitive position. Jacobs ( 1996) points out that in
the networkeconomy, the ways of doing business change
fundamentally: intensive and longer-term co-operation is
on the wax, and often characterised by the
interorganisational exchange of uncodified strategic
knowledge (for instance in project teams). An example of
this way of working is "early supplier involvement", with
suppliers being involved in the design of new products.
An important factor in the increasing
network-orientation of firms is the rapid development of
information and communication technologies that make
interchange easier and offer possibilities for new kinds
of co-operation. For example, information technologies in
the design-sector enable car producers to design a new
car at many locations in the world simultaneously.
Not only for firms is networking
important, but also for other types of organisation.
Particularly science and education institutes in Europe
increasingly see the advantages of linking up with other
actors. Simultaneously, many private firms increasingly
recognise the benefits of linking up more closely to
knowledge institutes. Universities engage more and more
in networks, by carrying out contract research for public
or private sector. One of the reasons for universities to
engage in contract research is of a financial nature:
they see it as a means to compensate for budgets cuts of
governments. Perhaps more importantly, contract research
for the industry may increase the relevance of scientific
research, as scientists are confronted with demands of
the market. In natural sciences like biology and
chemistry, fundamental university research can be of
great value for private rlrmS: new joint research
co-operations have sprung up. Educational institutes may
also benefit from engaging in networks. For instance,
good relations with the business sector may provide
opportunities for on-the-job training of students, and
can be helpful in the steering of education prograrnmes
tailored to market needs. 3.3 Networks and regions:
Clusters Interfirm and interorganisational co-operation
in networks have different spatial dimensions. Networks
can extend world-wide, as in the case of the car
designers; another example is the global network of stock
exchanges and financial markets. But many network
relations between actors can be located in a specific
area, region or city. The popular term " cluster" is
mostly related to this local or regional dimension of
networks. Clusters can be dermed as networks of
organisations evolved by distribution of work, whose
production processes are closely bound up through the
exchange of goods, services andlor knowledge (based on
Van den Berg, Van Klink and De Langen, 1997). Not only
monetary transactions are involved: precisely the
infonnal exchange of infonnation, knowledge and creative
ideas is an important characteristic of such networks.
Unlike a sector, a cluster unites companies from
different levels in the industrial chain (suppliers,
customers), with service units (financial institutions,
production-supporting services), with government bodies,
semi-public agencies, universities, research institutes
etc.
Many authors have stressed the
importance and the functioning of clusters. Already in
1927, Marshall described the powerful dynamics in
industrial districts, where geografically concentrated
groupings of firms, large and small, interact with each
other via subcontracting, joint venture or other
collaborative means, gaining external economies of scale
in doing so (Cooke, 1995), thus deriving international
competitiveness from local sources. Porter (1990)
describes how clusters of densely networked firms are
capable of global reach while deriving their strength
from a regional basis. He discerns four conditions as
essential in that development: factor conditions (quality
of labour, capital, knowledge available), demand
conditions (scale and quality of the regional home
market), supplier industries (globally competitive
suppliers, specialised services) and business strategy
(rivalry between local firms but also willingness to
co-operate in research, sales and marketing). In
particular, the interp 1 ay of c omp etition and c o -op
er ation i s fundament al. T o o muc h c omp etition may
b e de s truc tiv e , but the same holds for too much
co-operation when it degenerates into the formation of
cartels (Cooke, 1995; Harrison, 1994). Lazonick (1992)
and Boekholt (1994) stress that in clusters, a major role
is played by linkages other than interfirm linkages:
links with government-supported scientific institutes,
ties with the scientific community and professional
associations are important factors in a clusters'
performance.
Still, the question remains why
networks are often spatially concentrated, while modem
communication technology theoretically permits spatial
dispersion. Several reasons can be put forward. First,
face-to-face contacts appear to be very important as
sources of (technological) information and in the
exchange of tacit knowledge (Leonard-Barton, 1982;
Ma1mberg et al., 1996). Spatial proximity greatly
enhances the possibility of such contacts. Second,
co-operation between actors require s mutual trust. This
holds particularly when sensitive and valuable
information is exchanged, for instance in a joint
innovation project. Cultural proximity, i.e. the sharing
of the same norms and values, is an important factor in
that respect, since co-operation is a human
phenomenon.
A very relevant issue concerning the
spatial dimension of clusters i s how local networks
relate to networks. In the local-global interplay, a
special role is played by transnational companies. If a
TNC is rooted and integrated ("fledged") in the region
and engaging in regional networks, it can act as an
disseminator of new knowledge, information and innovation
from abroad into the region. This is particularly
relevant for research and development activities.
Knowledge flows are facilitated by personal
relationships, and mobility of employees (Malmberg et
al., 1996) or spin-outs from the large firm. The other
way around, transnational companies can benefit much from
their location in a strong cluster: it gives them access
to suppliers, flexible production
capacity,skilledlabour,andnew technology developed by
smaller flrms. Ma1mberg et al.( 1996) expect that for
those reasons, TNCs concentrate their resources in the
most dynamic local milieus.
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4. Urban growth
clusters : towards a framework of analysis
4.1 Introduction
This section contains a reference
framework, which will be used to study the growth
clusters in several European cities. Given the aim of the
research, the framework should serve three goals. First,
it must help in understanding growth processes in
clusters in urban regions; second, it should find weak
spots in clusters and provide scope for policy
improvement, and third, it should allow the comparison of
different types of clusters. From existing literature
(partly discussed in the preceding sections), and recent
research, a framework is constructed with the following
elements. First, the general conditions of the urban
region are relevant: they comprise the economic and
spatial structure, quality of life, and cultural aspects
(attitudes towards innovation and co-operation). Second,
we discern cluster specific conditions, comprising the
quality, size and number of the actors in the cluster,
and the prevalence and quality of strategic interaction
within the cluster and external linkages.
-
- 4.2 General
conditions: the economic, spatial and cultural context.
The development of a cluster cannot be
understood without a thorough insight into the
characteristics of the functional urban region as a
whole. In our research, we have distinguished three
elements in the spatial economic context: economic,
spatial and cultural conditions.
Economic conditions
The first is the economic structure of
the local economy. In general, the sectoral mix in an
urban region influences the development of the specific
growth-cluster under consideration, because there are
often many interrelations (suppliers-links, demand,
services) between the growth sector and other sectors in
the urban region. In particular, demand conditions are
fundamental to the functioning of a cluster. Who are the
buyers of the products/services that the co-operating
firms in the cluster produce? Depending on the cluster it
may be large companies in the region, that indirectly act
as stimulators of the cluster as main client. But also
governments or individuals are important clients for some
clusters. The demand can be mainly local, but may also
come from other regions. Another important characteristic
of the urban region is the knowledge base of the local
economy, as reflected in the education level of the
workforce, the knowledge-intensity of the economic
activities that take place in the urban region and the
presence of research institutes. The assumption is that
in most new growth clusters, knowledge is the key driving
force behind growth and development. Therefore, regions
with a well-educated workforce and high-quality knowledge
institutes will have a general advantage over other
regions.
-
- Spatial conditions
The spatial conditions in an urban
area form the second "context element" of our analysis.
Two main aspects of the spatial conditions can be
discerned. The first is the quality of life in the urban
area. In general, quality of life is a location factor of
utmost importance. In contrast to the past, when workers
migrated to places where factories and other firms were
located, in our modern economy firms seem to move to
areas where they can find the appropriately skilled
people. Highly skilled people, on which urban development
is strongly dependent, attach much value to a high
quality of the living environment, so in an indirect
sense the quality of the living environment is an
essential factor in economic urban development. A second
aspect of the spatial conditions relates to
accessibility, in the broadest sense of the word.
Accessibility can be split into physical and electronic,
internal and external to the urban region. Accessibility
is a necessary condition for urban development, since in
a network economy, interaction is the key. Bad transport
systems in an urban area may seriously hamper interaction
in a cluster, particularly if cluster elements are
dispersed. External accessibility to other cities and
regions is also fundamental, as a means to link local
networks up with national and international networks of
all kinds. At the same time, the level of external
accessibility influences the competition between cities
for the development of clusters.
Cultural
conditions
Finally, the " cultware" is considered
an element of the cluster context. Cultware relates to
attitudes of people and firms. In particular, attitudes
towards innovation are important, for often in growth
sectors, the main driving force of the development of the
cluster is innovation. Of equal importance is the
willingness of people in the urban region to co-operate.
Co-operation is also one of the main sources of
innovation, new combinations, and hence, growth and
development of the cluster.
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- 4.3 Cluster
specific conditions
An important aspect of a clusters'
functioning is its size and its development level. Does
the cluster possess "critical mass" ? How many companies
and educational and research institutions are active in
the cluster? Critical mass is important for various
reasons. First, it ensures a market large enough to
support the (specialist) activities in the cluster. A
second advantage is that the presence of many companies
may invite keen competition and thus force companies to
operate efficiently and effectively. Third, the chance of
fast penetration of all types of innovation is the
greater as the cluster is larger. Fourth, regional
co-operativeness is easiest to accomplish within a large
cluster, the odds of finding a complementary partner in
the region being favourable. Finally, scale offers
prospects for the sharing of resources, the benefits of a
shared pool of specialised labour, and the scope for a
cluster "superstructure" like joint education facilities.
It should be stressed that scale is
not everything: also the quality of the cluster actors is
a relevant factor. Quality may refer to the degree of
international competitiveness of firms, the technological
sophistication of their output, the standing of a
university etc. The presence of one or more engines in a
region -this may be large multinational firms, but it can
be other actors as well - is also supposed to be a
determinant of a cluster's functioning, in their role of
spider in global and local networks, or as "flagships" of
the cluster as whole.
Besides its scale and quality, the
degree ofstrategic interaction is assumed to be largely
decisive for a cluster's performance. Strategic
interaction implies long-term relations other than
strictly financial, between organisations. Within the
region such interaction can be achieved on various
levels: among companies, between companies and
institutions of education or research, among educational
institutions, etc. As indicated in the last section,
strategic interaction can serve a variety of purposes: to
create scale, to use one another's knowledge (of markets,
technology, organisation), to make use of one another's
networks, to solve common problems together, or to
enhance flexibility. Evidently, interaction among actors
in a region does not develop just like that. Fundamental
conditions are that actors involved should know (of) one
another and trust each other. Next, the parties need to
some extent be complementary. That last aspect is also
associated with the scale. In a large and varied cluster,
the chance of finding a suitable partner is considerably
greater than in a small one.
A final element that deserves
attention is the level of new fims creation. New firm
creation is important, as young firms often are dynamic
and innovative, and generate jobs; they can be important
for large firms as partners in innovation, or as
suppliers. They may help to tie young talents to the
region, particularly when new firms are strongly linked
up in the cluster, for instance by strategic relations
with local universities or large firms. New-firms
creation in European cities generally lags behind the
figures of the USA, particularly of high-tech starters.
Appropriate public-private structures to guide starting
flrms are assumed to be a very important factor in the
degree to which people ( students or employees) are
inc1ined t o start businesses, but also cultural elements
(the level of "entrepreneurial spirit") are likely to
play a role.
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- 4.4 Organising
capacity
The final element that presumably
plays a part in the performance of the cluster is the
degree of organising capacity regarding the cluster.
Organising capacity can be defined as the ability of the
urban region to enlist all actors involved in the growth
cluster, and with their help generate new ideas and
develop and implement policy designed to respond to
developments and create conditions for sustainable
development of the cluster (Van den Berg, Braun and Van
der Meer, 1996, adapted). Organising capacity can refer
to the development of cluster-specific policy, the
attraction of cluster supporting elements (companies),
investment in specific infrastructure, etc. Van den Berg,
Braun and Van der Meer (1996) distinguished some elements
necessary to the organising capacity in general:
leadership, vision/strategy, political/societal support,
and public-private partnership. All these elements are
important for the development of a regional cluster.
Leadership can play a prominent role
in developing and stimulating a cluster, especially if
many interests are involved and decision powers
fragmented or fuzzy. In many cases, one or a few persons
can achieve a lot. Leadership need not always be vested
in the public sector: a large company or other
organisation can take the lead in setting up networks in
the region and initiating policy. The development of the
growth cluster should be steered by an integral vision,
and preferably be laid down in a strategy. A well defined
and shared vision and strategy on the development
possibilities of a cluster is indispensable for an
efficient allocation of resources and efforts to
stimulate the cluster. Political and societal support are
necessary conditions for a cluster policy as well.
Political support helps to bring about positive
collaboration on the local level. Proper presentation and
communication of policies are of paramount importance to
achieve results. Societal support is important for the
acceptance of policies aimed at growth clusters. Finally,
public-private co-operation -on the strategic, tactical
and operational levels- is very important for a
successful cluster policy. An essential factor for
success is the early involvement of the private sector in
the development of locations, the attr action of
companies, etc. The knowledge, expertise and involvement
of the private sector can be very valuable to the
decision process, and considerably enhance the chance of
success. Besides, government can act as network-broker,
stimulating the formation of inter and intra-sectoral
networks, by bringing people and firms together. Local or
regional government can engage in public-private
partnerships directed at the stimulation of the growth
cluster, for example by providing facilities or specific
education.
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- 4.5 Some final
notes on the methodology
The delimitation of growth clusters is
not an easy task, for several reasons. A first
methodological issue is the determination of the growth
of a cluster in terms of employment and value added.
Although this study carries the name "growth clusters",
the general aim of the research is not to assess exactly
the growth of the clusters in terms of turnover growth or
exact employment growth, but to understand how and why
some clusters are growing, and to make a comparison
between growth clusters in different European cities.
Next, it is very difficult beforehand
to determine which organisation is part of the cluster
and which is not, in other words: how can the structure
of a "growth cluster" itself be determined? The utmost
was done to find out which elements (defined as firms and
organisations) of the cluster are present in the urban
region. To that end, for convenience, the sector was
taken as a starting point. Organisations in the sector
then formed the basis of the analysis of networks in the
region: the authors studied how the organisations are
linked up with other firms or knowledge institutes within
and outside the region. An exact description of all the
different networks in urban growth clusters would have
taken an enormous investment in time and effort.
Therefore, the authors have instead tried to collect some
indicative evidence of network structures in the cluster.
That type of evidence may consist in the presence of
formal co-operative structures, joint facilities or joint
projects in the growth-cluster in the urban region.
The research results of the case
studies are based on a combination of desk research and
field research. Extensive use is made of existing reports
about the different clusters in the cities. On that
basis, interviews were held with key persons in the
cluster. These interviews proved to be a indispensable
and very rich source of information, particularly for
finding out the relations between actors in the
cluster.
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- References
Berg, L. van den (1987), Urban Systems in a dynamic
society, Aldershot, Gower
Berg, L. van den, H.A. van Klink and P. de Langen
(1997), Maritieme clustering in Nederland, Erasmus
University Rotterdam
Berg, L. van den, E. Braun and J. van der Meer (1996),
Metropolitan organising capacity, Avebury, Aldershot
Boekholt, P. (1994), Methodology to identify regional
clusters of firms and their needs, Paper for Sprint-RITTS
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Bramezza, I. ( 1996), The competitiveness of the
European city and the role of urban management in
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Cooke, P. (1995), Regions, clusters and innovation
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Rustbelt, UCL, London
EDURC Eurocities economic development and regeneration
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Harrison, B. ( 1994), Lean and mean: the changing
landscape of corporate power in the age of flexibility,
New York, Basic Books
Jacobs, D. ( 1996), Het kennisoffensief: slim
concurreren met kennis, Samson, Alphen aan den Rijn
Lazonick, W (1992), Industry clusters versus global
webs, dep. of economics, Columbia University, NewYork
Leonard-Barton, D. ( 1982), Swedish entrepreneurs in
manufacturing and their sources of information, Center
for Policy Application, MIT , Boston
Malmberg, A., 0. Sölvell and I. Zander (1996),
Spatial clustering, local accumulation of knowledge and
firm competitiveness, Geografiska Annaler 78b (1992 -2)
Porter, M. ( 1990), The competitive advantage of
nations, the Free Press, NewYork
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