ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the impact of the cluster approach in terms of the components of policy-making, characterised as three separate and successive phases of a policy's development: 'diagnostic', 'prescriptive' and 'operational'. It explores the question: does cluster policy represent a significant break with earlier policy approaches or is it merely a bundling together of existing ideas and instruments. Economic development policy can be described using a life-cycle model, in which different types of activities are required at different stages of policy-making. Policy options appropriate for the different stages are limited by a combination of economic needs, policy history, institutional structures, institutional and personal values and the availability of resources, acting on the life-cycle as a whole. These variables and policy actions can be modelled with respect to cluster policy. Cluster analysis and mapping techniques have been very attractive to policy-makers, even when they were not employed to develop a cluster programme.
