ABSTRACT
Why do some social groups, economic institutions and nations advance and prosper? To companies ‘competitiveness’ means the ability to compete in world markets with a global strategy. To economists it often means low unit costs of labour adjusted for exchange rates. With striking regularity firms from one or two nations achieve disproportionate worldwide success in a particular industry. Examples included Swiss watches, Scotch whisky, New Zealand dairy and Italian fashion. A national industry cluster demonstrates strategic capability for a critical number of firms to achieve and sustain competitive advantage over their peers.
This chapter outlines the key steps in developing a cluster-based strategy, alongside the example of the Scottish food and drink industry, where the industry leaders took ownership of the future growth strategy alongside other key stakeholders to change the game.
