PhD Students

Michael Porter's seminal study of industrial clusters in 1990 suggested that the role of government in industrial clustering was that of a supporting pillar, and opinion from that point is divided as to whether government is a positive or negative influence in the creation and fostering of clusters. There is also a strong view from academics in Ireland that as an instrument of industrial policy industrial clustering is not appropriate to a small open economy such as Ireland. However, this is contradicted by the evidence from Denmark a similarly small open economy that shares, at least superficially, many striking characteristics with Ireland; a similarly small population with a dominant neighbour (Germany); a dominant capital in economic and population terms; a strong agricultural tradition (a key ingredient of entrepreneurship). Denmark is recognised as having a number of industrial clusters particularly in traditional sectors such as agriculture, furniture and wood products etc. Indeed, Porter utilised Denmark as one of the examples of national competitive advantage to be obtained from industrial clustering. This study will examine the role government has played in industrial clustering in Ireland and Denmark and attempt to identify critical success factors and also examine industrial and clustering at the regional level in Ireland and Denmark through a comparative study of two peripheral and similar in scale regions, namely the Shannon and North Jutland regions.

This research is funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences, and NIRSA.