Inter-organizational power and work relations in a regional ICT cluster

Abstract

The cluster concept has attracted numerous criticisms over the years. Yet, it arguably retains significant value as a lens for studying organizations, work and employment in particular places. Conceptualizing regions, for example, as inter-organizational ‘sites’ allows for the experience of working life to be analyzed more fully in relation to labour’s position within contextually based employment relationships. This article applies such a notion to evaluate the link between inter-organizational arrangements of power, local labour market dynamics, and work and employment relations in the Thames Valley (UK) information and communication technologies (ICT) cluster; on which basis it is concluded that the cluster facilitates a ‘strategically rational’ form of domination over workers.