Backs to the wall: Strategies of cluster firms at the beginning of the global economic crisis of 2008

Abstract

"A regional cluster is made of cooperation and competition and from their interplay competitive advantages accrue to all firms that constitute a cluster. At the example of the global crisis of 2008 and 2009 we examine the effect of an external shock to the balance between cooperation and competition in the German mechanical engineering sector. We present evidence that employment in cluster firms developed better than in non-cluster firms in the beginning of the crisis. The analysis of interviews with CEOs of cluster firms on what strategies they used to answer to the increasing pressure in the competition underlines that regional embeddedness and the mobilization of solidarity among cluster actors played a prominent and positive role in the process. The results of our study also suggest that regional solidarity and rational economic behavior supplement rather than exclude each other." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Fuchs, S. & Wrobel, M. (2015): Backs to the wall: Strategies of cluster firms at the beginning of the global economic crisis of 2008. In: Homo Oeconomicus, Vol. 32, No. 3/4, p. 427-449.