Roles-purpose-and-culture misalignments: a setback to bottom-up SME clusters

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) clustering processes initiated from the bottom up. In particular, this paper seeks to tackle the major setbacks encountered by a group of Spanish SMEs with long tradition in the chemical sector on their way to setting up a cluster Design/methodology/approach - The authors propose a collaborative action research approach. The fact that the study was carried out within the framework of the EU-FP7 CADIC project made this approach particularly suitable. The intervention strategies along the cluster development cycle are especially focused. Findings - Collective and distributed leadership, collaborative culture, communication, dynamic relational capabilities, and a shared vision or purpose are all necessary and critical, though not sufficient elements, for the success of SME bottom-up clusters. The time frame of the strategic interventions and the roles of the partners are equally fundamental. Practical implications - The practical implications are to enhance SMEs' clusters management capacity and collaboration readiness; to promote more business-grounded and effective cluster policies; and to contribute to enlighten the discussions about the opportunity/appropriateness of cluster evaluation frameworks/policies addressed to enact collaboration, when the focus is the SME. Originality/value - This study suggests that misalignments in the triad roles-purpose-culture among the cluster partners could bring about dysfunctions and lead the cluster to a prolonged "projectism" and early degeneration. Particularly it highlights the fundamental role of the "roles" displayed in the cluster in achieving success. These roles are dynamic and emergent mechanisms of adaptation of the cluster to the internal and external environmental changes.