engleski

The development of clusters of competitiveness in Croatia: a survey-based analysis

The development of clusters has become a widespread tool used by many governments to increase the competitiveness and economic growth, since clusters have positive effect on the performance of affiliated firms, as well as on regional and industrial development (Ketels et al., 2006). In particular, clusters are the key building block in the development and implementation of smart specialisation strategies (European Commission, 2013), which represent the new orientation of regional innovation policies in Europe (Querejeta and Wilson, 2013). In the context of smart specialisation, cluster initiatives might be useful in the identification of priority domains, in engaging and mobilising actors to formulate the strategy, and in pushing the activities forward in the implementation. Many countries are combining specialisation strategies with clusters policies to bring industry and researchers together to establish strategic research and development directions and to fund projects that provide industry with the innovation and productivity tools needed to compete in global markets (OECD, 2012 ; European Commission, 2013 ; Querejeta and Wilson, 2013). However, there are many risks for smart specialisation strategies to be implemented effectively through the development of clusters, which is related to the choice of the right priorities and objectives, and to the implementation of adequate activities, modes of governance and collaboration among existing members (Querejeta and Wilson, 2013 ; Boschma, 2016). This paper investigates the development of Competitiveness Clusters in Croatia, which were created in 2013 as a part of a country’s Smart Specialization strategy in order to increase the country competitiveness and reduce its gaps with more advanced EU countries (MINGO, 2016). In doing so, this work relies upon an original dataset deriving from a survey on 250 cluster members. We contribute to the literature on cluster initiatives (e.g. Sölvell et al., 2003 ; Lindqvist et al., 2013 ; Maffioli et al., 2016), by distinguishing groups of competitiveness clusters along different sets of objectives, and by investigating how these differences are reflected in the process of management and governance, as well as in the perception of the most important dimensions of performance. The findings of this paper are expected to have important implications for policy-makers in Croatia and for competitiveness clusters themselves. In particular, results provide policy makers with useful insights on the perception of cluster members on what are the relevant objectives for the creation of clusters, and how the setting of different objectives might be translated into different modes of governance and different performance outcomes. This is especially important for the future revision of the framework of competitiveness clusters in terms of objectives, as well as for the evolution in the organisation and management processes of such initiatives.

The development of clusters of competitiveness in Croatia: a survey-based analysis

Ponuđen je online pristup sažetcima.