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    Business Clusters

     
    11/14/2005

    Martin Perry, currently teaching management and business research methods at New Zealand’s Massey University, has been affiliated over the years with university programs of urban planning, land economy, geography, public policy, and management.

    This hefty publication, listed at $125, investigates the influential theory that synergies operate among businesses in the same industry that are geographically close to one another. In Perry’s view, there is no indisputable evidence thus far to either support or disprove the theory. He even suggests that business clusters may be detrimental to organizational learning when companies surround themselves with like-minded sources of knowledge, perhaps ignoring developments outside the cluster borders.

    Perry defines four different types of clusters as a first step to illustrate the complexities of their analysis. He uses New Zealand as a case study of a nation that actively promotes the benefits of clusters, yet he finds no conclusive evidence to support that strategy. As Perry argues, special circumstances—rather than universal trends that can be replicated—may allow clusters to succeed. In conclusion, he expresses the hope that future research on clusters will consider a wide variety of alternative perspectives in assessing their success or failure.

    - Cynthia D. Churchwell

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