Vol. 6 Num. 1 - GCG: Revista de Globalización, Competitividad y ...

Clemente Hernández-Rodríguez & Raúl Francisco Montalvo-Corzo2. Business and Industrial Clusters: Literature Review57From the Ricardian concept of comparative advantage and national and regional specialization,theory demonstrates that certain geographic locations specialize in particular sectors,thus gaining competitiveness (Porter, 1990). Marshall contributed to greater firm productivityby tying the phenomenon of agglomeration of specialized economic activity with Krugman’sNew Economic Geography (Krugman, 1998) Indeed, the cluster approaches are based onthe idea of externalities (illustrated by Marshall’s work on the ‘Industrial district’; Marshall(1920)), on the competitiveness issue (illustrated by Porter’s theory of cluster growth; Porter,2000a), and on a territorial perspective (illustrated by the GREMI approach; Porter, 2000b).2.1. Definitions of Business ClustersClustering has been happening spontaneously throughout time. However, there is not yet acommon universal understanding of what a cluster is, nor a common theoretical frameworkto explain the phenomenon. The diversity of academic approaches to clusters results indifferent definitions and terms being used by academics and policy makers (associations,business networks, industrial districts, milieu, etc.All the concepts, from a microeconomic perspective, regarding business and industrialclusters, identified in this paper as entrepreneurial clusters, have elements in common. Forsome, clusters are a question of localization, proximity, or specialization [Chakravorty, Kooand Lall (2003), Cortright (2006), ITDWB (2009), Kerala Government (2004), Ketels, Lindqvistand Sölvell (2006), Lundvall (2003), Malberg and Power (2006), Maskell and Kebir (2006),Rosenfeld (1996, 2002), and Sonobe and Otsuka (2006)]. For others they are the result ofstrategies (from institutions) on producers, mainly to promote exports [Cooke and Huggins(2003), ECPG (2010), Ellison and Glaeser (1994), Isbasoiu (2007), Ketels (2003), Porter (1998),Rosenfeld (1997), and SBEDP (2001)].Clustering occurs at a larger scale (full global value-chain) and can change and take a varietyof forms [OECD (1999), and UNIDO (2001)]. Figure 1 summarizes the common elements inthe previous definitions of clusters.GCG GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY - UNIVERSIA ENERO-ABRIL 2012 VOL. 6 NUM. 1 ISSN: 1988-7116pp: 55-90