Choosing the Industry of an Industrial Cluster in a Globalizing City

Abstract

Industrial clusters have long been of interest to policy makers, as they are believed to induce economic development. When they are set up in globalizing cities with different and competing skill sets, selecting an industry to promote becomes a major issue. This article focuses on power in global cities to examine the implementation of a high-technology cluster in the greater Paris region. It shows that Porter's (1998) theory is not performative because it does not account for governments' constraints and collective action issues simultaneously. The challenge of reaching potential beneficiaries is important to understanding why some multinational firms become decision-makers. Here, multinational corporations (MNCs) are shown to connect with the government through interpersonal networks, and to use their existing interorganizational relations to co-opt the participation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and academic institutions. At the same time, competition among MNCs places French government bodies in the role of legitimate arbitrators, allowing them to influence the decision-making process. This paper shows how these actors form an ‘assemblage of power’, creating new categories leading to the inclusion and exclusion of actors. These categories are different from those suggested in the literature.