Comparison of the Significance of Clusters for Increasing Business Performance
Eva Stichhauerova, Miroslav Zizka, Natalie Pelloneova
Keywords:
competitiveness, cluster organization, technical performance, innovation performance, Data Envelopment
Analysis
Abstract:
This article focuses on the impact of clusters on performance in five selected industries. Focused
on increasing the competitiveness of regions and enterprises, clusters are currently considered
one of the most essential tools of industrial policy. This includes the Czech Republic, where
cluster initiatives have been systematically supported since 2004 by operational programmes.
The goal of this research was to determine whether cluster organizations have a positive effect
on the performance of their member enterprises in various industries. Another goal was
to verify the relation between the financial and innovative performance of the member enterprises.
The research was carried out on a sample of five clusters in the automotive, IT, furnituremanufacturing,
packaging and machinery industries, with Data Envelopment Analysis used for
this performance evaluation. The enterprises were divided into three groups: companies that are
members of cluster organizations, companies that are active in the same region and industry but
are not members of a cluster group, and companies from the respective industry that operate
outside the region of the given cluster. The results of the study indicate that in four industries (automotive,
IT, packaging, machinery), member companies of cluster organizations achieve better
results than non-members or firms active in other regions. On the other hand, it was not possible
to prove a positive relation between company performance and their registered industrial rights,
neither from the perspective of cluster membership nor their activity in the respective industry
and region.
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10.7441/joc.2020.03.10
Stichhauerova, E., Zizka, M., & Pelloneova, N. (2020). Comparison of the Significance of Clusters
for Increasing Business Performance. Journal of Competitiveness, 12(3), 172–189. https://doi.org/10.7441/joc.2020.03.10
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