engleski

Clusters and firm performance in wood processing industries: evidence from new EU member states

The role of industrial clusters in economic development has drawn the attention of academics and policymakers for many years. With the widespread use of cluster initiatives and cluster policies across the EU countries, clusters have become even more popular. Although several previous studies indicate positive impact of clustering process on firm performance, the empirical evidence does not, however, unanimously support such claims and the research is yet to reveal the reasons behind failure of some cluster initiatives and success of others to boost firm performance. This paper fills the gap in the literature and evaluates the impact of clusters on firm performance in two traditional forest-based industries - wood-processing and furniture manufacturing in two new EU member states (Croatia and Slovenia) during the post-crisis period of 2013-2016, based on firm-level data and by using various treatment-effects estimators (such as inverse probability weighted regression adjustment analysis, propensity score and nearest neighbour matching). The paper extends prior research on clusters and their impact on firm performance. The findings indicate that in both countries clusters have positive effects on firm productivity, sales revenues, size, and export performance. Cluster members have also a higher probability of becoming high growth firms and they offer higher wages to their employees. As such, these findings support the view that clusters are important driver of firms’ growth and competitiveness, and support the existence of cluster policies, at least in new member states. For the future period, main objective of cluster associations should be related to the creation of such environment that would help companies increase productivity and catch- up along the global value chain, while policy- makers should continue focusing on horizontal policies in a way that would help firms grow.

forest-based industries ; forest industry analysis ; clusters ; firm performance ; CEECs

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