Institutional barriers to entrepreneurship in clusters

Emerald - 2006
AyseSaka‐Helmhout1, ElifKarabulut2
1Department of International Business and Management, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
2Department of Management, University of Mugla, Kotekli, Turkey

Tóm tắt

PurposeThe paper aims to highlight the extent to which the institutional context of a country can inhibit entrepreneurial activity in clusters.Design/methodology/approachCase study method employing exploratory survey questionnaire and interviews administered to 78 firms in the Denizli textile cluster in Turkey.FindingsFindings show that Denizli district firms nurture effectively only some of the features of an industrial district, that is flexibility, participative managerial structure and trust. However, there is limited availability of skilled workers, and limited co‐operation in the form of joint projects and investments for innovation owing to the weak institutional context in which these firms are embedded. Although this might be expected to discourage economic benefits, performance, particularly in terms of efficiency and relations with internal and external customers, is perceived to be high by the cluster firms.Research limitations/implicationsIt is not adequate to argue that policy makers of developing countries should take particular systems of organizing, such as cluster formation, into consideration for their industrialization efforts. One needs to consider the wider institutional context in which entrepreneurial activity is embedded that can limit the degree to which clusters can stimulate economic development. This has implications for the applicability of a cluster approach to foreign contexts, particularly where global value chain governance is of a quasi‐hierarchical form.Practical implicationsAlthough district firms can strategize on the basis of their flexibility, trust relations and managerial structures within the confines of a state‐organized institutional environment and a quasi‐hierarchical global value chain, further improvements such as relocation of production and equity participation are needed to meet the global challenge.Originality/valueThis study shows that the institutional make‐up of a country can discourage actors from changing patterns of organizing for innovation. Although a substantial number of studies have been carried out for more than a decade on the internal structure and formation of clusters, these pertain predominantly to operations in developed nations and, by and large, ignore developing countries. The paper argues that clusters may not generate the same economic benefits when embedded in weak, state‐organized institutional settings as when operating in strong collaborative institutional contexts. The study is of value particularly to policy makers.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

Amin, A. (1999), “The Emilian model: institutional challenges”, European Planning Studies, Vol. 7, pp. 389‐405.

Amin, A. and Robins, K. (1990), “Industrial districts and regional development: limits and possibilities”, in Pyke, F., Becattini, G. and Sengenberger, W. (Eds), Industrial Districts and Inter‐firm Co‐operation in Italy, International Institute for Labour Studies, Geneva, pp. 185‐219.

Aygün, Z.K. and İmamoğlu, O. (2002), “Value domains of Turkish adults and university students”, The Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 14, pp. 333‐51.

Bair, J. and Gereffi, G. (2001), “Local clusters in global chains: the causes and consequences of export dynamism in Torreon's blue jeans industry”, World Development, Vol. 29 No. 11, pp. 1885‐903.

Becattini, G. (1989), “Sector and/or districts: some remarks on the conceptual foundation of industrial economies”, in Goodman, E., Bamford, J. and Saynor, P. (Eds), Small Firms and Industrial Districts in Italy, Routledge, London, pp. 123‐35.

Becattini, G. (2004), Industrial Districts: A New Approach to Industrial Change, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.

Best, M.H. (1990), The New Competition: Institutions of Industrial Restructuring, Polity Press, Cambridge, MA.

Brown, J.E. and Hendry, C. (1998), “Industrial districts and supply chains as vehicles for managerial and organizational learning”, International Studies of Management & Organization, Vol. 27 No. 4, pp. 127‐57.

Brusco, S. (1990), “The idea of the industrial district: its genesis”, in Pyke, F., Becattini, G. and Sengenberger, W. (Eds), Industrial Districts and Inter‐firm Co‐operation in Italy, International Institute for Labour Studies, Geneva, pp. 10‐19.

Buğra, A. (1994), “Political and institutional context of business activity in Turkey”, in Öncü, A., Keyder, Ç. and İbrahim, S. (Eds), Developmentalism and Beyond: Society and Politics in Egypt and Turkey, The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo, pp. 233‐55.

Çetindamar, D. (2005), “Policy issues for Turkish entrepreneurs”, International Journal of Entrepreneurship & Innovation Management, Vol. 5 Nos 3/4, pp. 187‐205.

Denizli Chamber of Commerce (2004), Ekonomik yönü ile Denizli (Economic Aspects of Denizli), Denizli Chamber of Commerce, Denizli, No. 31.

Denizli Textile and Apparel Exporters' Union (2004), Export Statistics, available at: www.detkib.org.tr/english/exptables.htm.

Denzin, N.K. and Lincoln, Y.S. (1998), Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials, Sage, London.

Djelic, M‐L. (1999), “From a typology of neo‐institutional arguments to their cross‐fertilization”, Research Paper, ESSEC.

Estevez‐Abe, M., Iversen, T. and Soskice, D. (2001), “Social protection and the formation of skills: a reinterpretation of the welfare state”, in Hall, P.A. and Soskice, D. (Eds), Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 145‐83.

EU (2002), “Support to the participation of SMEs in the sixth framework programme working document”, Unit B.3 of the Research DG of the EU, available at: http://dbs.cordis.lu/fep‐cgi/.

Freeman, C. and Soete, L. (1997), The Economics of Industrial Innovation, Pinter, London.

Gereffi, G. (1994), “The organization of buyer‐driven global commodity chains: how US retailers shape overseas production networks”, in Gereffi, G. and Korzeniewicz, M. (Eds), Commodity Chains and Global Capitalism, Praeger, Westport, CT, pp. 95‐122.

Gereffi, G. (1999), “International trade and industrial upgrading in the apparel commodity chain”, Journal of International Economics, Vol. 48 No. 1, pp. 37‐70.

Giner, J.M. and Maria, M.J.S. (2002), “Territorial systems of small firms in Spain: an analysis of productive and organizational characteristics in industrial districts”, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Vol. 14, pp. 211‐28.

Gökşen, N.S. and Üsdiken, B. (2001), “Uniformity and diversity in Turkish business groups: effects of scale and time of founding”, British Journal of Management, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 325‐40.

Guerrieri, P., Iammarino, S. and Pietrobelli, C. (2001), The Global Challenge to Industrial Districts: Small and Medium‐sized Enterprises in Italy and Taiwan, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.

Hollingsworth, J.R. and Boyer, R. (1997), Contemporary Capitalism: The Embeddedness of Institutions, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA.

Humphrey, J. and Schmitz, H. (2000), “Governance and upgrading: linking industrial cluster and global value chain research”, IDS Working Paper No. 120, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton.

Humphrey, J. and Schmitz, H. (2002), “How does insertion in global value chains affect upgrading in industrial cluster?”, Regional Studies, Vol. 36 No. 9, pp. 1017‐27.

Lorenz, E.H. (1993), “Flexible production systems and the social construction of trust”, Politics & Society, Vol. 21 No. 3, pp. 307‐24.

Marshall, A. (1920), Principles of Economics, 8th ed., Macmillan, London.

Maskell, P. (2001), “Towards a knowledge‐based theory of the geographical cluster”, Industrial and Corporate Change, Vol. 10, pp. 921‐43.

Mutluer, M. (1995), Gelişimi, Yapısı ve Sorunlarıyla Denizli Sanayii (Denizli Industry with its Development, Structure and Problems), Ege Üniversitesi Basımevi (Aegean University Publishing), Izmir.

Öniş, Z. (1992), “Organization of export‐oriented industrialization: the Turkish foreign trade companies in a comparative perspective”, in Nas, T.F. and Odekon, M. (Eds), Economics and Politics of Turkish Liberalization, Associated University Press, London, pp. 44‐72.

Özcan, G.B. and Çokgezen, M. (2003), “Limits to alternative forms of capitalization: the case of Anatolian holding companies”, World Development, Vol. 31 No. 12, pp. 2061‐84.

Paniccia, I. (2002), Industrial Districts: Evolution and Competitiveness in Italian Firms, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.

Parrilli, M.D. (2004), “A stage and eclectic approach to industrial district development: two policy keys for ‘survival’ clusters in developing countries”, European Planning Studies, Vol. 12 No. 8, pp. 1115‐31.

Pietrobelli, C. and Barrera, T.O. (2002), “Enterprise clusters and industrial districts in Colombia's fashion sector”, European Planning Studies, Vol. 10 No. 5, pp. 541‐62.

Porac, J., Thomas, H. and Baden‐Fuller, C. (1989), “Competitive groups as cognitive communities: the case of Scottish knitwear manufacturers”, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 26 No. 3, pp. 397‐416.

Porter, M. (1998), “Clusters and the new economics of competition”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 76 No. 6, pp. 77‐90.

Pyke, F. and Sengenberger, W. (1990), “Introduction”, in Pyke, F., Becattini, G. and Sengenberger, W. (Eds), Industrial Districts and Inter‐firm Co‐operation in Italy, International Institute for Labour Studies, Geneva, pp. 1‐9.

Pyke, F., Becattini, G. and Sengenberger, W. (1990), Industrial Districts and Inter‐firm Co‐operation in Italy, International Institute for Labour Studies, Geneva.

Sako, M. (1992), Prices, Quality and Trust: Inter‐firm Relations in Britain and Japan, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA.

Whitley, R. (1996), “The social construction of economic actors: institutions and types of firm in Europe and other market economies”, in Whitley, R. and Kristensen, P.H. (Eds), The Changing European Firm: Limits to Convergence, Routledge, London, pp. 39‐66.

Whitley, R. (1999), Divergent Capitalisms: The Social Structuring and Change of Business Systems, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Yin, R.K. (1994), Case Study Research: Design and Methods, 2nd ed., Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Guerrieri, P. and Iammarino, S. (2001), “The dynamics of Italian industrial districts: towards a renewal of competitiveness”, in Guerrieri, P., Iammarino, S. and Pietrobelli, C. (Eds), The Global Challenge to Industrial Districts: Small and Medium‐sized Enterprises in Italy and Taiwan, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp. 35‐59.

Thông tin
Thông tin xuất bản

Emerald

Thông tin tác giả