Firm resources and cluster entry

The entry of new actors is an important, but not sufficiently examined aspect of research about regional clusters. This book examines the influence factors of cluster entry in the context of the entering companies’ characteristics. For that, a theoretical framework is developed, incorporating the possibilities of a negative selection of weak and a positive selection of strong entrants. The framework is empirically tested from the cluster- and the firm-perspective by means of a mixed-method study based on two distinct data sets. The first one consists of expert interviews with cluster managers from five different countries. The data is first analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Then it is transformed into numbers and analyzed regarding potential external influence factors of selection tendencies. The second data set consists of survey data from the German automotive industry, and is analyzed with the goal of comparing cluster-members and nonmembers regarding their resources and performance. One main finding is that an industry’s technology intensity influences entry tendencies. While high-tech industries are characterized by negative selection, positive selection is prevalent in medium and low-tech industries. Further it is shown that automotive companies being members of clusters are endowed with better human resources than nonmembers, which means that positive selection is prevalent in this industry.