Emergence and Development of Industry Clusters in Hungary: Searching for a 'Critical Mass' of Business via Cluster Mapping

Miklós Szanyi, Ichiro Iwasaki, 一郎 岩﨑, イチロウ イワサキ, Péter Csizmadia, Miklós Illéssy and Csaba Makó

No a539, Discussion Paper Series from Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University

Abstract: In the epoch of globalization, small or medium-sized national companies have great difficulties in finding an appropriate place for themselves in global labor division systems. They most frequently apply either strategies that help them becoming part of global value chains as regular suppliers, or they try to locate in which they might cooperate with other small companies in industrial clusters to compete with larger multinational companies. In both cases, communication, knowledge transfer, and cooperative actions among companies are essential for improving competitive capacities. Since this type of cooperation relies heavily on close, regular contact and face-to-face interaction, the spatial concentration of actors can improve the chances for success. Literature on the topic of supplier networks and spillover effects, as well as that on industrial clusters, emphasizes the importance of a "critical mass" of companies and other organizations and institutions. The authors first define and describe the types of synergies that stem from co-location of cooperating market actors. In addition the potential linkages among the two types of networks, supplier chains and clusters are explained. After a brief overview of the related literature, the authors introduce a new, refined measurement method of spatial concentration with empirical survey results from Hungary.

Keywords: industry cluster; supplier network; foreign direct investment; Hungary (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D24 F23 L14 L16 P23 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2010-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-geo, nep-net, nep-sbm, nep-tra and nep-ure
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hit:hituec:a539

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