Institutional Hybridity as a Driver of Clusters in a Sub-Saharan African Economy: The Case of Cameroon

This article offers an institutional reinterpretation of informal clusters based on a qualitative study conducted in three urban clusters in Cameroon. Moving beyond conventional approaches rooted in Porterian and Marshallian traditions, the study examines how the interplay between formal institutions and informal arrangements shapes the coordination, learning, and governance mechanisms underlying cluster dynamics. The empirical material draws on 139 interviews conducted with informal production units (IPU) and institutional actors, following an abductive research approach. The findings reveal institutionally hybrid configurations in which informal coordination mechanisms and limited forms of formalization become durably intertwined. The study further shows that learning dynamics rely primarily on relational mechanisms and that different forms of institutional hybridity shape processes of knowledge creation and diffusion. By introducing the concept of hybrid cluster as an analytical category, this article contributes to shifting the analysis of informality from the level of individual productive units to that of collective mechanisms of coordination and governance.