Industries and regional economies evolve as a result of the interplay between local and non-local factors. Increasing globalization of both production- and innovation activities implies a shift in the relevant scales of interaction from the local towards the global level. This paper is concerned with the implications of such scale shifts for the role of the region and for cluster-related regional policies. It examines what is left of the role of regional settings in fostering economic development when extra-regional drivers of change increase in importance. We investigate this crucial question with two in-depth case studies of the medical technologies sector, in which such scale shifts have been particularly pronounced. Our findings from empirical material collected in Scania/Sweden and Vienna/Austria illustrate the ways in which changes in national and supra-national regulatory frameworks have had a profound impact on the innovation activities of individual firms and the way to develop and launch new products, and subsequently on the regions in which they cluster. Such scale-shifts have on the one hand limited the potential for regional policy to shape the cluster's path through support for supply-side factors. Yet some critical assets remain local but are increasingly difficult to access. By addressing such barriers to access, regional policy can still strongly affect the opportunities for innovation. Furthermore, in an increasingly open industry system, we see an expanded role for regional policy in supporting firms to access critical assets and sources of innovation found external to the region.

The main objective of this thesis has been to answer the question, whether the cluster policy in the Moravian-Silesian Region is a proper part of the regional innovation policy and whether it is properly targeted within the context of the regional innovation policy. In other words whether there is an impact of cluster policy on research, development and innovation, or vice-versa on the fields that can eventually be considered harmful to the fair competition (e.g. activity of the cluster organisations in the field of joint procurement and enforcing of joint interests); and further whether the cluster policy measures contribute rather to dissolving of innovation barriers caused by lack of contact with the other companies and institutions (e.g. missing cooperation partner, low level of trust, missing technical equipment, missing know-how), or to dissolving innovation barriers which should be targeted by other means of the innovation policy (e.g. problems with financing of the innovation projects). An attempt to answer the questions was made in a survey among the members of the Moravian-Silesian cluster organisations. The results of the survey have confirmed the assumption, that the members of the cluster organisations see the activities in the field of networking and information and research, development and innovation as the most beneficial and that they have experienced the highest improvement in dissolving the following innovation barriers: missing cooperation partner, missing business related know-how and low level of trust. However, after a thorough analysis of the policy system and conduction of several structured interviews with the cluster managers, doubts concerning the impact on the "natural" clusters were stated. Based on these findings the further cluster promotion at the national and regional level proves to be eligible, but further research is necessary to examine, whether the activities of the cluster organisations really promote the "natural" clusters, what impact on the innovativeness and competitiveness they bring and whether the promotion is economically efficient.

Despite the advantages and dominance of globalization in today&rsquo / s world economics / clusters, as a regional based development tool, still attract many researchers and policy makers from all over the world in order to obtain sustainable competitiveness. As a result of fast rising number of cluster development policies and initiatives, the importance of measuring the performance of clusters arises. The purpose of this thesis is to design a performance measurement model, which will be applied to industrial clusters in Turkey. A model framework is developed, based on expected outcomes of clusters which are classified as productivity, innovativeness, new business formations and social capital. Indicators are selected based on extensive literature survey under these four determinants, and a scorecard is developed. After the design phase, the performance of two cluster cases from Turkey is studied. In order to improve clustering approach, it is important to monitor, measure identify the progress of clusters. It is believed that this work will be utile for policy makers to identify whether the interventions, incentives and promotions are beneficial for the desired purposes and whether they are used effectively.

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The change in regional governance in Sweden is regularly understood in terms of a shift from ’government’ to ’governance’, from a redistributive policy to a policy that aims to encourage regional innovation, competitiveness and growth. This shift also includes the adoption of global policy models, such as ’clusters’.  In the literature on the global spread of policies it has been argued that a market for global policies has developed. This is not least evident through the expansion of global consultancy firms, international policy organisations as well as a cosmopolitan elite of travelling policy technocrats. Theoretically and methodologically this study contributes to scholarly discussions of how new forms of governance can be analysed, and especially how governmentality studies can be utilised and combined with analyses of the messy political practices of specific policies and programs. The study analyses the discursive shift in regional policy in Sweden: contested elements erased, conflicts concealed and the political order produced. By empirically departing from a ’cluster policy network’ lodged within a Swedish region, cluster policy is analysed as an assemblage of global circuits of knowledge, expertise and local relations of power. A broad range of materials for analysis have been generated through interviews, participant observations and documents. The production of policy knowledge is an overarching political rationality of contemporary forms of regional governance, translated into technologies such as benchmarking, regional comparisons, competitions, evaluations and best-practice. Based on the empirical analyses it is argued that the lack of power critique and a hyper-rational representation of knowledge produce an international market for legitimacy. It is further argued that five characteristics of the policy regime (’the regional cluster orchestra’) contributes to the reproduction of the policy regime, and relations of domination. / Baksidestext Avhandlingen tar sin utgångspunkt i vad som har beskrivits som en marknad för globala policymodeller. I Sverige har klusterbegreppet, med ursprung i ekonomisk och geografisk teoribildning, fått stort genomslag i regionalpolitiken. I den samtida regionalpolitiken har också produktionen av olika former av policykunskap utvecklats till centrala styrningsteknologier: benchmarking, best practice, utvärderingar, uppföljningar, mätningar och konkurrensutsatta tävlingar om regionala utvecklingsmedel. Genom kunskap och ständigt lärande ska Sveriges regioner frälsas. I avhandlingen studeras den scen där ett regionalt förankrat policynätverk agerar och den kunskap som produceras. Regionalpolitikens rationalitet innebär att det blir centralt för regionerna att agera som enhetliga aktörer och visa upp en lyckad och framgångsrik fasad. Det argumenteras för att bristen på maktanalys, och en hyperrationell syn på kunskap i regionalpolitiken innebär att regionalpolitikens styrningsteknologier producerar en internationell marknad för legitimitet som i sin tur reproducerar ordningen och döljer dominansrelationer.

The present study investigated whether cluster potentials could be identified in the geographical area within the boundaries of Samsun province, and if identified, how such a potential could be promoted through corresponding support measures. Development of policy recommendations for promotion of identified cluster potential was the principal goal of the study. The course of the study was characterized by a cluster-based policy-making process in the policy environment, i.e. Samsun province. The process includes a descriptive part, i.e. cluster analysis, and a prescriptive part, i.e. determining policy goals and designing policy instruments. In the literature review, a guide to the field study was developed by review of various approaches to cluster concept / common features of clusters and the competitive advantages these give rise to / various practices in cluster-based policy development, and various cluster analysis methods. The field study starts with the initial identification of need for policy intervention, at which stage the rationale for pursuing a cluster-based policy in the specific conditions of Samsun and Turkey was discussed. The &ldquo / clusters as sectors&rdquo / approach was utilized in the identification of region&rsquo / s (potential) clusters and selection of the cluster as the subject of analysis and policy development. The analysis of industrial sectors in Samsun&rsquo / s economy was followed by selection of the target sector via employing various criteria assessing the importance of these sectors in terms of value added to the regional economy, and the clustering potential. Accordingly, furniture sector was selected, and the agglomeration of furniture sector enterprises in Kutlukent locality was identified as the potential cluster to be the subject of analysis and policy development. Following the identification of the potential cluster, the descriptive part was completed by second-stage micro-level analysis of the identified potential cluster, by which detailed information about the potential cluster was presented. At that phase, cluster potential of the structure was assessed by examining the elements in cluster value and production chain / public and private business support infrastructure / the flow of materials and goods in the chain / untraded relationships between the elements / characteristics of enterprises and workforce / and innovation performance. This comprehensive in-depth analysis of the cluster provided the required information to identify the specific needs of the cluster for cluster-based policy intervention. In the last part of the thesis, i.e. prescriptive part, cluster-oriented policy recommendations were developed including the determination of policy goal and the design/selection of policy instruments. The necessary information was collected by two-stage expert interviews, and by overall scan of the enterprises involved in the cluster via enterprise survey, which was realized in interviews with all of the enterprises. Six experts and 283 enterprises participated in the study. The results of the analysis showed that, while Kutlukent furniture cluster had some features, which are common in effective cluster models, the cluster lacks some critical features, which are crucial for effective functioning of a successful cluster. Hence, Kutlukent furniture cluster was defined as a &ldquo / potential&rdquo / cluster, which should be promoted by utilizing the existing potentials and strengths, and by addressing the weaknesses and obstacles identified in the analysis of the cluster, via appropriate cluster-oriented policy measures, which were proposed in the prescriptive part of the policy-making process. By these measures, the elements of Kutlukent potential cluster would be able to realize competitive advantages associated with clustering as in successful cluster models.

This paper deals with the issue of clusters as relatively new tools of competitiveness in economies and examines their linkage to state through cluster policies and initiatives. At the beginning, a theoretical development of the concept is presented. Afterwards, the cluster concept as such is introduced, putting down a wide scale of supportive rationales, presenting also possible risks and explaining a linkage to innovation and competitiveness. The second part of the thesis treats the issue of cluster policies as possible means of a cluster creation. Aside from examining cluster policies in different views, an emphasis is put on the justification of the role of state which can take part as either contributive or disturbing factor. The empirical part of the paper presents the case of the Czech clustering. Firstly, the Czech cluster policy is analyzed concerning its targets, instruments, approaches and other relevant issues, focusing on shortcomings and problems of the policy. Further, a case study of the Moravian-Silesian automotive cluster is presented. In this part, the particular cluster is observed with a view to its origin, development and activities. The endeavor is to compare the case with the classical Porter model and find out its inadequacies.

Для эффективного планирования деятельности инновационных кластеров в реальных условиях необходимо оценить инновационный потенциал этих кластеров. Целью магистерской диссертации заключается в выявлении закономерностей в оценке инновационного потенциала промышленных предприятий (или объединения предприятий) и разработки комплексной методики оценки инновационного потенциала машиностроительных кластеров, функционирующих в условиях кластерной политики. В работе рассматривается понятие регионального машиностроительного кластера и вопросы, связанные с оценкой инновационного потенциала в условиях кластерной политики. В качестве источников использовалась открытые статистические данные Федеральной службы государственной статистики, общедоступные результаты исследований, собственные исследования автора. В магистерской диссертации был разработан методический подход к оценке инновационного потенциала промышленного машиностроительного кластера в условиях кластерной политики, учитывающий региональную специализацию кластера, влияние производственных факторов в смежных промышленных областях, динамику реализации инновационных проектов в кластере, что обеспечивает системный и комплексный подход к принятию решений о перспективе развития промышленных кластеров в исследуемых регионах. / In order to effectively plan the activities of innovation clusters in real conditions, it is necessary to assess the innovation potential of these clusters. The purpose of the master's thesis is to identify patterns in the assessment of the innovative potential of industrial enterprises (or associations of enterprises) and to develop a comprehensive methodology for assessing the innovative potential of machine-building clusters operating in the context of cluster policy. The paper deals with the concept of a regional machine-building cluster and issues related to the assessment of innovation potential in the context of cluster policy. The sources used were open statistical data of the Federal State Statistics Service, publicly available research results, and the author's own research. The master's thesis developed a methodological approach to assessing the innovative potential of an industrial machine-building cluster in the context of cluster policy, taking into account the regional specialization of the cluster, the influence of production factors in related industrial areas, the dynamics of the implementation of innovative projects in the cluster, which provides a systematic and integrated approach to decision-making about the future development of industrial clusters in the studied regions.

The main object of this thesis is analyse conditions for formation clusters in the Czech republic and possibility their other development. The thesis contains characteristics of the last and present operational programme, which support clusters. The other part of the thesis is analyse of the present situacion of development clusters in particular regions of the Czech republic and their comparison with clusters of Austria. In the ending part of the thesis are summarized all information get from questionnaire and interwiev with manager of the cluster EKOGEN.

The objective of this thesis is to summarize the actual theoretical knowledge about clustering and cluster development and these findings consequently apply to czech business environment. The thesis analyses czech cluster policy and creates list of functional and developing clusters and cluster initiatives in Czech republic. The thesis sumarizes practical experience with cluster development in Czech republic - its successful projects and problems it has to face. As a conclusion this thesis brings evaluation of cluster concept in Czech republic, recommendations and alternatives for its future development.