Local Clusters in a Global Economy

LOCATION, COMPETITION, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: LOCAL CLUSTERS IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY

By: Porter, Michael E.; Economic Development Quarterly, Feb2000, Vol. 14 Issue 1, p15, 20p, 4 diagrams

Economic geography during an era of global competition involves a paradox. It is widely recognized that changes in technology and competition have diminished many of the traditional roles of location. Yet clusters, or geographic concentrations of interconnected companies, are a striking feature of virtually every national, regional, state, and even metropolitan economy, especially in more advanced nations. The prevalence of clusters reveals important insights about the microeconomics of competition and the role of location in competitive advantage. Even as old reasons for clustering have diminished in importance with globalization, new influences of clusters on competition have taken on growing importance in an increasingly complex, knowledge-based, and dynamic economy. Clusters represent a new way of thinking about national, state, and local economies, and they necessitate new roles for companies, government, and other institutions in enhancing competitiveness. Resources, capital, technology, and other inputs can be efficiently sourced in global markets. Firms can access immobile inputs via corporate networks. It no longer is necessary to locate near large markets to serve them. Governments are widely seen as losing their influence over competition to global forces. It is easy to conclude, then, that location is diminishing in importance.(n1)
This perspective, although widespread, is hard to reconcile with competitive reality. In The Competitive Advantage of Nations (Porter, 1990), I put forward a microeconomically based theory of national, state, and local competitiveness in the global economy. In this theory, clusters have a prominent role. Clusters are geographic concentrations of interconnected companies, specialized suppliers, service providers, firms in related

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