Perspectives on Cluster Evolution: Critical Review and Future Research Issues

Michaela Trippl (), Markus Grillitsch, Arne Isaksen and Tanja Sinozic ()
Additional contact information
Tanja Sinozic: Institute for the Environment and Regional Development, Vienna University of Economics and Business

No 2014/12, Papers in Innovation Studies from Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research

Abstract: The past two decades have witnessed an ever-growing scholarly interest in regional clusters. The focus of research has mainly been on why clusters exist and what characteristics “functioning” clusters hold. Although the interest in more dynamic views on clusters is not new, in recent years, however, more attention has been paid to providing better explanations of how clusters change and develop over time, giving rise to an increasing popularity of different variants of the cluster life cycle approach. This article offers a critical review of various cluster life cycle models. We discuss the key ideas and arguments put forward by their main protagonists and we identify several shortcomings – such as the problematic predefinition of development phases, indifference to context-specific factors and neglect of multi-scalar impacts – that surround these models. Based on this critical assessment the article identifies several core issues for future research. In particular, we argue that there is a need to gain a better understanding of the context sensitivity of cluster evolution, to explore how cluster development paths are influenced by a multiplicity of factors and processes at various spatial scales and their interactions, and to investigate the role of human agents and to unravel how they shape the long-term development of regional clusters.

Keywords: cluster evolution; life cycle approaches; context sensitivity; multi-scalar frameworks; human agency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: P48 R10 R11 R50 R58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20 pages
Date: 2014-07-23
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-geo, nep-hme and nep-knm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Perspectives on Cluster Evolution: Critical Review and Future Research Issues (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2014_012

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