The Research On Industrial Cluster's Core Competence

The global economy is imperative today; marketing competition has evolved from industry development strategy to industrial cluster strategy. Through cooperative work the competitive advantages of industrial clusters are widely recognized and have become initiatives for one region to be involved in global market competition. The development process of industrial clusters has successes and failures; however, its development is influenced through the internal synergy known as core competence. Therefore, this paper attempts to comprehensively analyze and study industrial cluster's core competence, based on the theories of industrial cluster development and industry core competence. It includes the following three sections.Section One (Chapter one - Chapter three) addresses basic concepts involved in the research on industrial cluster's core competence. It describes the dispersions of industrial clusters around the world, comprehensively explains the analytical theories of industrial cluster development, and analyzes different strategic theories and opinions on industries competitive advantages. Finally, it proposes a theory of core competence on the transformation from analyzing industry to analyzing clusters.Section Two (Chapter four -Chapter five) addresses the main concept of the research on industrial cluster's core competence. First, the paper initially uses a theory of core competence to explain the theoretical rationale of industrial cluster's core competence: recognition learning abilities, knowledge accumulation, invention abilities, organization routines, social capital and so on. This theoretical rationale builds a research framework which includes knowledge level, policy level, resource level and marketing efficiency level, which proceed together and supply each other. Secondly, section two identifies that industrial cluster's core competence come from integrated knowledge and not from factors in the external environmental such as, geographic environment. Beneath the mechanism of integrated knowledge, the industry cluster's knowledge, particularly tacit knowledge, forms the source of the industrial cluster's core competence.Section Three (chapter six -chapter eight) addresses the extended concept regarding the research on industrial cluster's core competence. Based on the previous research, this paper further analyzes and studies the identifications and evaluations of social capitals, cluster evolutions and cluster competence. It analyzes the influence of social capital on cluster and its core competence from the perspectives of development, efficiency, structure, and solution. This paper explains the life cycle, development process, method and mechanism from the perspectives of evolution of economy. It explores the identification methods of industrial cluster's core competence from the perspectives of research methodology. Lastly, section three builds an evaluation index system and evaluative mathematical model of cluster's core competence, which has theoretical and managerial implications in fostering, strengthening, updating and diagnosing industrial cluster's core competence.