Timo Litzenberger, Zürich und Rolf Sternberg, Hannover: Der Clusterindex – eine Methodik zur Identifizierung Regionaler Cluster am Beispiel deutscher Industriebranchen

The cluster-index as a methodology for the identification of regional clusters using the example of German manufacturing industries

Politicians and regional planners consider regional clusters of industries to be a panacea for the maintenance of competitiveness in a globalised world. Despite intense promotion of such clusters, there is still no generally accepted method for their identification. This paper develops an index which can be used to measure regional clusters over a wide area and to assess their relative significance. Furthermore, in comparison with existing methods documented in the literature, the cluster-index developed here has many advantages, ranging from the availability of data to the simplicity of its calculation and interpretation.

The method presented here is used to identify clusters in several German manufacturing industries on the spatial level of the 439 German administrative districts (“Kreise”). It is shown that the number of regional clusters is limited and that some industries feature no clusters at all.

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