Abstract
The paper aimed at exploring the role of local industrial clusters as a part of an important evidence-based pathway for operationalizing smart specialization policy. Hitherto, the scientific debate has been largely focused on the relationship of clusters with the local business environment to boost competitiveness and has mostly searched for the operationalization of smart specialization policy in economically successful regions. However, the understanding of the role of local clusters (LCs), in terms of cluster industries that serve local businesses and residents, as potential “building-blocks” of Smart Specialization Strategies (S3) still lacks interpretive studies. We proposed a conceptual framework to unveil those factors of LCs that may be enhanced in the S3 policy design, around the concepts of adaptiveness and responsiveness to structural and influencing features of a local economic system. The distinction between Local and Traded clusters, applied in the US context, allows the identification of Local Cluster performance because of the availability of a robust data set. Accordingly, a tool is proposed to investigate those factors that are likely empowering smart specialization strategies: The dynamic SWOT analysis on the case of San Diego provides interesting insights toward building this conceptual framework. The findings may help explain how to relate LCs with smart specialization as building-blocks, based on potential risks and opportunities associated with the local economic system.
Highlights
This paper investigates whether and how existing local industries may play a constructive role in Smart Specialization Strategies (S3), from the initial process of domain prioritization, strategic policy design, through to implementation, delivery, and monitoring [1,2,3]
The D-SWOT analysis application has been tested in an explanatory case study in the form of “process tracing as an operational procedure for attempting to identify and verify the observable within -case implications of causal mechanisms and defines causal mechanisms” ([73], p.5)
The analysis substantially intended to demonstrate three relevant aspects: (i) The hypothesis of Local Economic System (LES) as a synergetic structure of complex relationships in which all activities must be integrated to gain a factual development, (ii) the S3 approach carries out a key role to generate interrelations within LES, and (iii) the local clusters (LCs) may play an important role in the building-blocks of S3, such as structural preconditions to create local networks for boosting economic integration within the region
Summary
This paper investigates whether and how existing local industries may play a constructive role in Smart Specialization Strategies (S3), from the initial process of domain prioritization, strategic policy design, through to implementation, delivery, and monitoring [1,2,3]. The role of local industries as a driver for local and regional prosperity has gained increasing attention in the academic and policy arena [4,5,6]. This mostly accrues as a result of a “large and growing proportion of employment” ([7], p.16) that in turn implies a large part of job creation within the local economic system. Among the different issues related to how to underpin cluster policy and S3, open matters indicate the role that local clusters can play as building-blocks of S3 [1] to facilitate its operationalization
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