Firm-specific cluster effects - A meta-analysis

The tendency of industries to cluster in some areas and possible effects of this regional clustering have fascinated researchers from multiple disciplines alike. Driven by the success of some clusters, as for example Silicon Valley, the concept has also become quite popular among politicians. Despite the already substantial financial support, a positive cluster effect on the success of the corresponding companies has not been consistently asserted yet. In this context, recently it has been accentuated to further examine the role of contextual influences that might explain the ambiguous effect of clusters on firm s success. The aim of this paper is therefore to investigate the alleged effect of clusters on firm performance and the moderating influence of the specific context by conducting a meta-analysis of the relevant empirical literature. Therefor four different performance variables from four separate publication databases are considered. After the selection and exclusion process, the final sample of the meta-analysis consists of 168 empirical studies. The statistical integration of the corresponding results of these empirical studies indicate that there exists relatively weak evidence for a pure firm-specific cluster effect. Instead, it can be asserted that several variables from different levels of analysis directly or interactively moderate the relationship between clusters and firm s success. For example, it is pointed out that the probability for a positive firm-specific cluster effect is significantly higher in high-tech industries as well as for small and medium-sized companies. Depending on the specific conditions, clusters can therefore be blessing and curse at the same time.