The evolution of cluster network structure and firm growth: a study of industrial software clusters

Since the cluster began to receive attention as a critical environmental factor in geographical economics, it has provided a major research methodology across multiple disciplines from industrial organization, strategic management, regional innovation system, and Triple Helix to virtual clusters. Network structure analysis (NSA) offers a common framework to observe clusters that have been studied separately from the viewpoint of industrial organization and strategic management. Industrial structure analysis, is based on the externality of a network and the resource-based view, focused on the inherent network capacity, have been combined with the study of structural changes through cluster NSA, to create a new direction for the growth of industry and individual firms. This study aims to analyze the correlation between the networking of structural change and a firm’s performance by selecting a software industrial cluster as a representative case for the knowledge industry. We examine the network structural positions of each node during the cluster evolution process. This empirical study has significance for establishing a firm’s growth strategy as well as supporting the policy about clusters, through outlining the dynamic evolution process of the networking activities in a knowledge industry cluster.