Clusters and ecuador

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2 Clustering, a way to promote SME and local economic development
Silicon Valley is how Santa Clara, the South Bay portion of the San Francisco Bay area in Northern California, United States, is known. The Silicon Valley pseudonym comes from the association of the semiconductor chip making industry that uses silicon, fine sand, as basic raw material.
Its name is no more associated with the raw material but with the most famous high-tech cluster in the world. This 1,290.10 square miles area is the location for most headquarters of the largest technology corporations e.g.: Google, Intel, Apple Inc., Symantec, Hewlett Packard and Facebook. In order to achieve the productivity benefits and innovation advantages that take place in Silicon Valley, established high-tech companies based in other locations (both foreign and domestic), such as, Dell, Sony, Nokia and Siemens, have established subsidiaries in this cluster.

2.1 Clusters
According to Michael E. Porter (2000), Clusters are geographical concentrations of interconnected companies, specialized suppliers, service providers, firms in related industries, and associated institutions (e.g. universities, standard agencies, and trade associations) in a particular field that compete but also cooperate. Its geographical concentration goes from one state, a single city or nearby and neighboring countries. As expected, clusters with more sophisticated and higher levels of competitive development are found in industrialized countries. In each of these countries, it is possible to find clusters that reached world leadership in the industries to which they belong; such as, the insulin cluster of Denmark, the flowers in Netherlands, the cork of Portugal and footwear, clothing and high fashion...

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...re of home-market demand for the industry’s product or service, refers to the degree of the demand of the market and identification of demanding markets and customers.
• Related and Supporting Industries: Existence of supplier industries in the country or other related industries that affect the development of the companies.
• Firm Strategy, Structure and Rivalry: refers to the rules and norm that governs the companies and also their local competitors.
In order to achieve the benefits of conglomeration: increase the productivity of the companies, and their sector, improve their innovative capacities and foster entrepreneurs to generate new companies; it is necessary that these factors and the relation between them are adequate. These will also allow firms, regions and countries to achieve competitive advantages and not satisfying only with comparative advantages.

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