STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF INDUSTRIAL CLUSTERS: THE ESSENCE AND MEASUREMENT

The aim of the paper is to classify and characterise indicators of cluster measurement according to their ability to reflect the structural characteristics of this phenomenon. The article addresses the questions which structural characteristics can be attributed to clusters and which measures reflect these structural characteristics. In the first part of the study, the definitions of clusters were analyzed to identify their structural properties. In the second part, the indicators used in extant research were classified according to their ability to measure structural characteristics of clusters. The article is valuable for systemizing the cluster measurement based on the theoretical foundations of this phenomenon, which gives foundations for future research methodologies that appropriately investigate cluster structural properties and their dynamics. This will enable further in-depth analyses of changes in structural characteristics and of transformation processes within clusters. The study is conceptual and based on literature review.