Aitziber Elola (p), James R. Wilson

Marcelo Chacana Ojeda

Cluster policies are an important element of the competitiveness policies of many countries and regions around the world. Their rationale is based on the argument that the benefits of clustering can be enhanced and/or accelerated by facilitating cooperative dynamics among the firms and other agents that make up a cluster. Cluster policies therefore typically fund cluster associations or collaborative projects where a key input becomes the facilitating skills of cluster managers. Although policymakers have recognized the key role that cluster managers play in the successful implementation of cluster policy – as evidenced for example by training and networking initiatives for cluster managers such as the European Commission’s Cluster Excellence Initiative – there has been surprisingly little research into the role that cluster management plays in cluster policy success.
The aim of this paper is to advance knowledge on competitiveness (i.e. cluster) policymaking, focusing on policy learning processes. For that purpose, the paper analyzes the different stages of a six-year cluster policy evaluation process in the Basque Country, a pioneer region in cluster policy. We hold that strategic intelligence or evaluation tools can play an important role in this process and present the ‘User’s voice’ as a policy learning instrument. This questionnaire was developed in collaboration between researchers, policymakers, and cluster managers with the specific objective of better understanding how the cluster cooperation services and actions offered by the cluster management organizations and their impact on the competitiveness parameters of companies are perceived by users. We gathered information on different aspects related to cluster management among the members of the 16 cluster management organizations supported by the regional cluster program, with 597 responses in 2018 and 788 responses in 2022. Based on the process, we reflect on how knowledge about the key areas for cluster users contributed to policy learning. Moreover, we also looked at the role of multi-actor collaboration in these types of processes, analysing the interaction and collaboration between policymakers and cluster management, together with researchers, to generate policy learning. The analysis of the case also finds that multi-actor (i.e. academy, cluster management, and policy) collaboration for competitiveness policymaking has promoted changes in policy that could foster cluster competitiveness.

Federica Galli (p), Juan Andres Piedra-Peña, Marie-Laure Breuillé, Julie Le Gallo

Aitziber Elola

Many OECD countries, such as the UK, USA, Italy, and France, have allowed and organised inter-municipal cooperation to enhance the management of public services and better distribute resources across territories. However, municipalities are often unwilling to collaborate, delaying or even blocking the unification process since inter-municipal cooperation can be costly for municipalities due to the loss of autonomy over local policies and reduced ability to protect local interests. Empirical evidence on the impact of inter-municipal cooperation in promoting municipal efficiency is mixed and inconclusive and still it is not clear whether inter-municipal cooperation leads to efficiency gains or not. Therefore, in this paper we evaluate the impact of inter-municipal cooperation on municipal efficiency in France, where efficiency is defined as the capacity to use municipal resources (e.g., expenditures and labour) to maximize municipal output (e.g., income). We exploit the "Réforme des Collectivités Territoriales" (RCT) law approved in France in 2010 that forced municipalities to join an inter-municipal group (EIMC) by 2014. Concentrating on the French capital region for the period 2002-2019, we first compute municipal time-varying efficiency scores by estimating a spatial stochastic frontier model allowing intra- and inter-EIMC spillover effects. Then, we adopt a staggered difference-in-differences design to causally assess the impact of integration on municipal efficiency. We find that the RCT law overall had a positive impact on municipal efficiency in Ile de France region but this effect is particularly strong for early adopters and with an increasing length of exposure.

Marcelo Chacana Ojeda (p), Tomas Bas, F. Xavier, Molina-Morales, Luis Martínez-Cháfer

Ricardo Firetti

This paper uses the proximity approach of economic geography with its spatial (geographical) and non-spatial (social, institutional, cognitive and organizational) dimensions to examine inter-organizational cooperation among co-located firms in the pisco cluster. To determine this relationship, the Chi-square statistical tests were used, with their corresponding measures of association for qualitative variables, and Kruskal-Wallis for ordinal variables. It can be pointed out that the main element that hinders cooperation in the pisco industry cluster of Chile is the different visions and objectives of the different organizations. As for the dimension of proximity that favors cooperation among the companies in the pisco industry cluster of Chile, it was the social dimension.