CLUSTERS – COOPERATION CULTURE APPROACH

• Authors: Ročāns Kristaps
• Languages of publication: LV EN RU

Abstracts

EN

Latvian innovation performance on the EU level is very low, with declining SME collaboration. Co-operation culture in Latvian entrepreneurship environment is undeveloped. Networking and clusters are still very new concept in Latvia, while being increasingly popular and developed in Europe, where SME’s are actively using such networking possibilities, in order to attract new external resources, implement innovation and develop new, competitive products and boost their export capacity. This article analyses the concepts of firm co-operation and coopetition, benefits that company networking, and organized networks – clusters, can provide. Article elaborates on the Latvian situation with cooperation and cluster development and also uses Scandinavian cluster developer experience that can be used as an example for cluster development in Latvia. It is concluded that in modern economic environment, for companies to maintain their competitiveness, it is necessary to pursue both – strategies of competition and strategies of cooperation, one of such being the networking within the organized cooperation networks – clusters. It is concluded, that very important key factor for cooperation culture development within the clusters, is trust building between cluster participants, which can be achieved by using various mechanisms, such as ensuring information exchange, involvement of companies within joint projects and cluster branding. Trust building and successful cluster development is a long term endeavor, which requires sustainable funding and continuous efforts by the cluster facilitators. The continuous work of cluster coordinators and facilitators, their ability to ensure equal information flow within the cluster, and ability to develop it as a stabile and reliable platform, plays a significant role for the development of successful cooperation culture in the clusters, which helps companies to overcome various innovation barriers through cooperation. Based on the Scandinavian experience, it is concluded that it may take approximately from 5 to 10 years, for Latvian clusters to develop successful co-operation culture in the entrepreneurship environment.

Keywords

EN

clusters,; co-operation,; co-opetition,; trust,; entrepreneurship,; innovation.

• Publisher: Daugavpils University, Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Journal: Sociālo Zinātņu Vēstnesis
• Year: 2013
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 7-31

Contributors

author

Ročāns Kristaps

Identifiers

ISSN

1691-1881