Abstract
The advantages of industrial clusters as propenners of development have been widely noted. These advantages have prompted various administrations to propose the creation of clusters as a development policy. The state of Tamaulipas, Mexico has not been an exception. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of environmental factors, cluster characteristics, and on the performance of cluster companies, particularly, in four industrial clusters in Tamaulipas (petrochemical, auto parts, electric-electronic, and information technology). Based on in-depth interviews with members and participants, our findings suggest that the performance of these cluster comes from geographical location advantages, sociocultural identity, internal networks, specialization, and human capital training; that knowledge sharing is discretionary, and that the region still needs research support (research institutions and government agencies). However, the case studies show that policy makers, firms and knowledge institutions should work in mutual understanding to improve clusters absorptive capacity in order to increase innovative capacity.
Highlights
Clusters have been part of the economic landscape for a long time, since the geographical concentrations of craftsmen and companies engaged in any activity have existed for centuries
We first analyze the impact of the environmental factors, and those related to the characteristics of the cluster itself and, those of cluster firms
The purpose of this research was to analyze the impact of different environmental factors, cluster characteristics, and cluster firms in four clusters performance
Summary
Clusters have been part of the economic landscape for a long time, since the geographical concentrations of craftsmen and companies engaged in any activity have existed for centuries. The reasons in the past that led to the creation of clusters have lost importance due to globalization, the new role that these play in competition is becoming increasingly important in the context of a knowledge-based economy (Porter, 1999); even in developing countries like Mexico (Dávila, 2008). A new form of economic geography has been developed, and public policies have been designed to promote the creation of clusters (Mixteo, Idigoras and Vicente, 2004). Their performance has generated interest from academics, entrepreneurs, and policy makers around the world (McCann, 2008). One of the most important ones is to identify the factors that may lead to their performance
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