One question I have raised after working on understanding clustering and its effects is how can you replicate successes from Silicon Valley and other major clusters. As a Norwegian citizen it seems like we have a much higher barrier for talking to strangers and network then lets say the US where cold calls a quite common. I have noticed the practice of speaking in the elevator or to strangers in cafes also seem to be usual in many countries. Other then being a rather interesting observation I think this can also be linked to why clustering might face different challenges in different countries. People that have been interviewed in my project, which where working in rather big and homogeneous potential clusters, said that they rarely if ever engaged in communication with people from other businesses in their proximity. And to share any technical challenges or solutions in an informal environment was unthinkable.
This is of course not a representative study, but it seems to me like a pretty accurate description on how we do things in Norway. And for clustering the sharing of knowledge and informal networking is a key for its success.
Also one thing we noticed is the ability to sort of jam your profession in informal arenas. Which led me to think about what kind of businesses that benefited the most. For instance software developers and programmers seems to have a bigger ability to come together and program and develop for fun. The same might be said for entrepreneurs or investors. But what about insurance and law? How much meaningful practice is shared in informal arenas? Much of the information you possesses is classified and the cases embedded in the real life situation. You can't just sit around and jam with other strategists from other firms with the work you do.
This leads me to believe that there are major differences in how to approach clustering for certain industries which I find rather unanswered by the cluster developers and the academic theory around clustering.
Ingen kommentarer:
Legg inn en kommentar