Abstract:
The emphasis in cluster theory has been in explaining how and why clustering might
contribute to competitive advantage for co-located firms, and hence for the economy.
While firms may be encouraged to co-locate to gain from transactional, institutional and
knowledge benefits, threats to economic sustainability have been associated with a
deterioration of advantages and a failure to adapt, resulting in a decline of
competitiveness. This thesis reconsiders industry clusters as organisational populations,
suggesting a mechanism through which the population and the resource environment
can adapt and survive Cluster sustainability is described as a evolutionary process in
which the population and resources of the cluster adapt through the creation of new
member firms. Based on an embedded case study of eight firm formation events taking
place in the UK motorsport industry, the research examines how an industry cluster
regenerates and reproduces itself. The concentration, complexity, and diversity of
supply and demand comprising the cluster’s organisational population generate a
resource environment which generates creation of new members compatible with the
cluster’s knowledge architecture. New member entry depends on the absorptive
capacity of the cluster, while contributing to the ability to identify, diffuse and exploit
new knowledge. Sustainability of industry clusters is associated with the characteristics
that support new member creation.
