Regionally focused economic development: The cluster approach

Industrial clusters are geographic concentrations of tightly co-operating, legally independent organisations, which often develop dependant on the existence of a certain production factor or circumstantial on their own. Institutionalised industrial cluster try to imitate the natural phenomenon and are intended for regional economic development. In contrast to the natural phenomenon, institutionalised industrial clusters have a coordinated management and develop in more or less defined phases. This paper presents a phase-oriented model for the development of institutionalised industrial clusters.