Empirical Evidence of Development of Plastic Clusters

Abstract

The development of clusters and cluster policies is one of the sources of attaining competitive advantages of companies and regions. This contribution analyzes a sample of clusters in the plastics industry from different countries of USA, West and Central Europe and Asia, including cluster policies that generate the framework for their growth. Critical factors of cluster performance management based on results obtained from surveys and structured interviews of managers of selected plastics clusters are identified. Although these clusters exist in different parts of the world and operate in different economic and cultural conditions, there are many ideas and opinions shared by their managers introduced in this contribution.