From industrial districts to SME collaboration frames

Industrial networks have evolved from aggregations of a number of suppliers around a few final producers, towards more balanced organisations of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that within the European industrial system, today compose by more than 95% of all small-mid enterprises in the non-financial sector. The crucial character of a SME aggregation into a cluster is the existence of an effective collaboration among SMEs possibly supported by clear interactions (e.g. production flows and information), by a commonly recognised management objective and by well assessed connections with external markets. Based on these conditions, the paper first discusses a general conceptual model of a SME cluster, making evidence of the above-mentioned three basic characters of the cluster itself. Then, the conceptual model is used to formalise a SME cluster and its organisation in terms of amid-term cluster management optimisation problem. The model can help a cluster management and control unit in evaluating the cluster performance and the positive effects of an effective collaboration among SMEs. Based on the formal general model, a survey of typical SME clusters in some European countries is presented in order to compare the different types of SME aggregations and of their collaborative frames.