IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/loceco/v19y2004i1p38-54.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Visualising the Operating Behaviour of SMEs in Sector and Cluster: Evidence from the West Midlands

Author

Listed:
  • Janet Tully

    (International Centre for Regional Regeneration and Development Studies, University of Durham, UK)

  • Nigel Berkeley

    (Centre for Local Economic Development, Coventry Business School, Coventry University, UK)

Abstract

Cluster policy in the UK, pursued by the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), has readily adopted a simplistic definition based upon industrial sectors and location quotients. Evidence drawn from a study of the operating behaviour of SMEs belonging to two traditional manufacturing industries within the West Midlands—automotive components and clothing—provides a critique of this approach. Whilst the automotive components industry has been designated part of a key, high priority cluster, the clothing industry has not. Using case studies from both industries, this paper shows firms both within and outside RDA cluster definitions display a remarkably similar range of behavioural characteristics. Yet, based on weakly defined cluster policy, one industry enjoys considerably more policy support than the other. The paper begins to question the logic of RDA cluster policy and to ask whether a more sophisticated and locally sympathetic manner of visualising clusters and business behaviour rather than an emphasis on employment numbers would have a greater impact for policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Janet Tully & Nigel Berkeley, 2004. "Visualising the Operating Behaviour of SMEs in Sector and Cluster: Evidence from the West Midlands," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 19(1), pages 38-54, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:loceco:v:19:y:2004:i:1:p:38-54
    DOI: 10.1080/0269094032000168433
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/0269094032000168433
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/0269094032000168433?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Edward Feser & Edward Bergman, 2000. "National Industry Cluster Templates: A Framework for Applied Regional Cluster Analysis," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 1-19.
    2. Tully, Janet & Townsend, Alan, 2002. "Visualising the operating behaviour of SMEs in sector & cluster: evidence from the west midlands," ERSA conference papers ersa02p239, European Regional Science Association.
    3. Darren Webb & Clive Collis, 2000. "Regional Development Agencies and the 'New Regionalism' in England," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(9), pages 857-864.
    4. Allan G. B. Fisher, 1939. "Production, Primary, Secondary And Tertiary," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 15(1), pages 24-38, June.
    5. Ann Markusen, 1996. "Sticky Places in Slippery Space: A Typology of Industrial Districts," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 72(3), pages 293-313, July.
    6. François Perroux, 1950. "Economic Space: Theory and Applications," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 64(1), pages 89-104.
    7. Ron Martin & Peter Sunley, 2003. "Deconstructing clusters: chaotic concept or policy panacea?," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(1), pages 5-35, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. David Bailey & Stewart MacNeill, 2008. "The Rover Task Force: A case study in proactive and reactive policy intervention?," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(1), pages 109-124, November.
    2. Alex Burfitt & Stewart Macneill, 2008. "The Challenges of Pursuing Cluster Policy in the Congested State," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 492-505, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sara Cruz & Aurora Teixeira, 2010. "The Evolution of the Cluster Literature: Shedding Light on the Regional Studies-Regional Science Debate," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(9), pages 1263-1288.
    2. Manuel Palazuelos, 2005. "Clusters: Myth or Realistic Ambition for Policy-makers?," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 20(2), pages 131-140, May.
    3. Randall Jackson, 2015. "Are Industry Clusters and Diversity Strange Bedfellows?," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 45(2), pages 113-129, Fall.
    4. Adem Sakarya, 2023. "Clustering potential of organized industrial zones in Türkiye," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 255-276, March.
    5. Mirko Titze & Matthias Brachert & Alexander Kubis, 2011. "The Identification of Regional Industrial Clusters Using Qualitative Input-Output Analysis (QIOA)," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(1), pages 89-102.
    6. Chun Yang & Haifeng Liao, 2010. "Industrial agglomeration of Hong Kong and Taiwanese manufacturing investment in China: a town-level analysis in Dongguan," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 45(3), pages 487-517, December.
    7. Titze, Mirko & Brachert, Matthias & Kubis, Alexander, 2008. "The Identification of Regional Industrial Clusters Using Qualitative Input-Output Analysis," IWH Discussion Papers 13/2008, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    8. Hector Rocha, 2004. "Entrepreneurship and Development: The Role of Clusters," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 363-400, October.
    9. Randall Jackson, 2015. "Fellows Address: Are Industry Clusters and Diversity Strange Bedfellows?," Working Papers Working Paper 2015-04, Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University.
    10. Felix Haifeng Liao & Karen Zhihua Xu & Bin Liang, 2013. "Industrial agglomeration of Taiwanese electronics firms in Dongguan, China: home effects and implications for industrial upgrading," Chapters, in: Sören Eriksson (ed.), Clusters and Economic Growth in Asia, chapter 3, pages 40-65, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Rani Jeanne Dang & Christian Longhi & Karine Roux & Damien Talbot & Catherine Thomas, 2009. "Territorial innovation dynamics: a knowledge based perspective," Post-Print halshs-00365192, HAL.
    12. Pires, Jose Claudio Linhares & Cravo, Tulio & Lodato, Simon & Piza, Caio, 2013. "Industrial Clusters and Economic Performance in Brazil," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 4771, Inter-American Development Bank.
    13. Mercedes Delgado & Michael E. Porter & Scott Stern, 2016. "Defining clusters of related industries," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(1), pages 1-38.
    14. Cassandra C Wang & George C S Lin & Guicai Li, 2010. "Industrial Clustering and Technological Innovation in China: New Evidence from the ICT Industry in Shenzhen," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(8), pages 1987-2010, August.
    15. Martin, Ron & Sunley, Peter, 2012. "Forms of emergence and the evolution of economic landscapes," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 338-351.
    16. Sam Tavassoli, 2011. "A Comparative Investigation of Firms' Innovative behaviors During Different Stages of the Cluster Life-Cycle (Cover study for PhD dissertation)," ERSA conference papers ersa10p1045, European Regional Science Association.
    17. Rani J Dang & Karine Roux & Christian Longhi & Damien Talbot & Catherine Thomas, 2014. "Territorial Innovation Dynamics: A Knowledge Based Perspective," Post-Print hal-02385361, HAL.
    18. Robert Lewis, 2009. "Industrial districts and manufacturing linkages: Chicago's printing industry, 1880–19501," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 62(2), pages 366-387, May.
    19. Yeung, Henry Wai-chung & Liu, Weidong & Dicken, Peter, 2006. "Transnational corporations and network effects of a local manufacturing cluster in mobile telecommunications equipment in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 520-540, March.
    20. Tully, Janet & Townsend, Alan, 2002. "Visualising the operating behaviour of SMEs in sector & cluster: evidence from the west midlands," ERSA conference papers ersa02p239, European Regional Science Association.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:loceco:v:19:y:2004:i:1:p:38-54. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/index.shtml .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.