X Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2018

In recent decades, the process of globalization of the world economy has significantly accelerated. Global economy is supposed to be able to work as a unified system in real time and on a global scale with almost completely open national markets. In this regard, clusters and cluster policies can be considered as effective instruments for the economic development of territories and regions.

A business cluster is a geographic concentration of interconnected businesses, suppliers, and associated institutions in a particular field.¹ Clusters are considered to increase the productivity with which companies can compete, nationally and globally.

Clusters have the potential to affect competition in three following ways:

First, by increasing the productivity of companies based in the area. Being part of a cluster allows companies to operate more productively in sourcing inputs; accessing information, technology, and needed institutions; coordinating with related companies; and measuring and motivating improvement.

Second, by driving the direction and pace of innovation, which underpins future productivity growth. The ongoing relationships with other entities within the cluster also help companies to learn early about evolving technology, component and machinery availability, service and marketing concepts, and so on.

Third, by stimulating the formation of new businesses, which expands and strengthens the cluster itself. Barriers to entry the cluster are lower than elsewhere. Needed assets, skills, inputs, and staff are often readily available at the cluster location, waiting to be assembled into a new enterprise. In addition, the cluster often presents a significant local market, and an entrepreneur may benefit from established relationships.

Summing up the above, the business cluster increases the collective pool of competitive resources, which benefits all its members. The net result is that companies in the cluster advance relative to rivals at other locations.

World experience gives examples of improving the competitiveness of territories and production complexes through the implementation of cluster regional policies. In many developed countries, industry clusters have become a familiar form of organization of business communities. Currently, 50 % of the economies of the world's leading countries are clustered. Let us turn to the experience of developed countries, such as the USA, Italy, France and Japan.

The creators of the Silicon Valley in the United States can be called pioneers in the application of the business cluster approach. In the mid- to late 1990s several successful computer technology related companies emerged in Silicon Valley in California. This led anyone who wished to create a startup company to do so in Silicon Valley. The surge in the number of Silicon Valley startups led to a number of venture capital firms relocating to or expanding their Valley offices. This in turn encouraged more entrepreneurs to locate their startups there. There are about 87 thousand companies (e.g. Apple Inc., Google, Intel, Tesla, etc.), several dozen research centers and several large universities in Silicon Valley. It is a classic example of the effective interaction of the academic environment, business and personnel exchange between scientific centers and the business sector.

In the USA, the cluster approach is the basis for the strategy for the development of regional economies. More than half of enterprises are clustered and the share of GDP produced by them exceeds 60 %.² The American clusters are characterized by the developed system of partnership and strong state financial support, which stimulates the development of R&D.

The formation and development of the Italian model of regional clusters is largely due to the successful development of industrial regions. Industrial clusters account for 43 % of the total employment in the industry and more than 30 % of the national exports.³ All industrial districts, as a rule, are located in small towns with a high concentration of small craft companies. Most clusters are single-industry (90 %) and specialize in the production of consumer goods: fabrics, clothing, footwear, jewelry, as well as furniture, kitchen equipment and decoration materials. One of the striking examples of individual industrial clusters in Italy is Sassuolo, which includes 220 enterprises, employing an average of 100 people each.

Handicraft firms have high competitiveness in the world market. This is achieved through the cooperation of small producers, the creation of collective institutions, as well as high innovative activity of firms, their flexibility, and rapid response to new consumer demands. In this regard, the government plays a significant role: it provides support and discounts for exports and attracts investors, which contributes to production of competitive products both on the domestic and foreign markets.

Currently, in France there are 78 clusters in various fields: biotechnology, pharmacology, IT, and cosmetics.⁴ In 2005, the government started implementing the national cluster policy, which goal is to ensure the growth of competitiveness of key economic sectors within 15-20 years. Particular attention is paid to strengthening the links between universities and industry in order to develop small innovative business. This cluster policy is aimed at increasing the mobility of scientific personnel of public research centers, giving them greater freedom in organizing their own companies and providing advice to private industrial firms.

France has the world's first resource center in the field of cosmetics and perfumes. Every tenth cosmetic product currently sold in the world is produced in the Cosmetic Valley cluster. Cosmetic Valley includes approximately 600 enterprises, 7 universities, major national research institutes and 200 private and public laboratories.

Thus, French clusters are created mainly through partnerships between local industrial groups, universities and research institutes. The development of clusters is carried out jointly by local authorities and regional branches of the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry.

In Japan, clusters have a leading firm that has a high production scale and integrates a large number of suppliers at various stages of the process chain. Japanese clusters are created to promote the most advanced scientific and technical areas (development and production of large integrated circuits, nanotechnology, robotics, etc.). Particular importance is given to mixed industries: bio-production and bioinformatics. The most famous of Japan’s clusters is Toyota Motor Co., which is the largest car manufacturer in the world. This cluster has a developed network of more than 130 large suppliers and about 36 thousand small subcontractors.

Regional local governments and companies play a decisive role in the implementation of the Japanese cluster policy. Special attention is paid to the establishment of cooperation between enterprises, state organizations, research and educational institutions. The development of contacts with foreign ones is also a priority. In addition, active state support of venture business takes an important place in Japanese cluster policy.

The review study of the world experience of economic clusters made it possible to draw general conclusions:

the application of the cluster approach is a natural stage in the development of the economy, and its wide spreading can be regarded as the main feature of all highly developed economies;

the specificity of the cluster is that the organizations involved in it get a synergistic effect, which is expressed in increasing the competitiveness of the entire system in comparison with individual economic entities;

a distinctive feature of the cluster is its innovative orientation;

cluster policies of the countries considered above are based on the interaction between state authorities and local self-government, business and scientific and educational institutions.

1^ Business Clusters. MBA Knowledge Base — URL: https://www.mbaknol.com/strategic-management/business-clusters/

2^ US Cluster Mapping — URL: https://www.clustermapping.us/cluster

3^ European Cluster Panorama 2016 — URL: http://ec.europa.eu/DocsRoom/documents/20381

4^ Cluster Organizations Mapping —‍ URL: https://www.clustercollaboration.eu/cluster-mapping

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