Skip to main content
Home

Mapping a nation of regional clusters

Harvard Business School U.S. Economic Development Administration
EXPLORE

Search

  • I am an Economic Developer

    Are you trying to determine a strategy for your organization, region, or industry? Then follow our Economic Developer path.

    Follow Economic Developer Path
  • I am a Policymaker

    Are you hoping to effect change in the economic landscape through federal, state, or local government policy choices? Then follow our Policymaker path.

    Follow Policymaker Path
  • I am an Academic or Researcher

    Are you interested in learning more about clusters and conducting action-oriented research? Then follow our Academic or Researcher path.

    Follow Academic or Researcher Path
  • I am in the Private Sector

    Are you looking into the economic competitiveness of a region through the lens of the private sector? Then follow our Private Sector path.

    Follow Private Sector Path
  • Data by Cluster

    A cluster is a regional concentration of related industries that arise out of the various types of linkages or externalities that span across industries in a particular location. The U.S. Benchmark Cluster Definitions are designed to enable systemic comparison across regions. View and compare clusters across the U.S.

    View Data by Cluster
  • Frequently Asked Questions

    How do I compare different clusters on a national level?

    How do I find my region’s strongest cluster(s)?

    How do I identify which cluster my industry belongs in?

    How do I compare local vs traded clusters?

    Are there overlaps between the clusters?

  • Data by Region

    A region is broadly defined as a county, economic area (EA), metro/micropolitan statistical area (MSA), or state. The U.S. Benchmark Cluster Definitions use the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis defined economic areas. View and compare regions across the U.S.

    View Data by Region
  • Frequently Asked Questions

    How do I compare different regions?

    How do I build a region to meet my needs?

    How is my region doing, especially in comparison to its peer regions?

    How do I find subregions related to my region?

    How do I use the map view to visualize economic data across the country?

  • Organizations

    View Organizations
  • Blog

    View Blog
  • Resources

    View Resources
  • Community

    The Community of Practice enables practitioners to share Resources, post Blogs, and find partner Organizations. View and contribute content of interest to the cluster based economic development community.

    View Community Page
  • Register
  • or
  • Sign in
Welcome   Welcome  
About
Cluster
Region
Community
- View Organizations
- View Blog
- View Resources
- View Community Page
Register
Login
Home
  • I am an Economic Developer

    Are you trying to determine a strategy for your organization, region, or industry? Then follow our Economic Developer path.

    Follow Economic Developer Path
  • I am a Policymaker

    Are you hoping to effect change in the economic landscape through federal, state, or local government policy choices? Then follow our Policymaker path.

    Follow Policymaker Path
  • I am an Academic or Researcher

    Are you interested in learning more about clusters and conducting action-oriented research? Then follow our Academic or Researcher path.

    Follow Academic or Researcher Path
  • I am in the Private Sector

    Are you looking into the economic competitiveness of a region through the lens of the private sector? Then follow our Private Sector path.

    Follow Private Sector Path
  • Data by Cluster

    A cluster is a regional concentration of related industries that arise out of the various types of linkages or externalities that span across industries in a particular location. The U.S. Benchmark Cluster Definitions are designed to enable systemic comparison across regions. View and compare clusters across the U.S.

    View Data by Cluster
  • Frequently Asked Questions

    How do I compare different clusters on a national level?

    How do I find my region’s strongest cluster(s)?

    How do I identify which cluster my industry belongs in?

    How do I compare local vs traded clusters?

    Are there overlaps between the clusters?

  • Data by Region

    A region is broadly defined as a county, economic area (EA), metro/micropolitan statistical area (MSA), or state. The U.S. Benchmark Cluster Definitions use the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis defined economic areas. View and compare regions across the U.S.

    View Data by Region
  • Frequently Asked Questions

    How do I compare different regions?

    How do I build a region to meet my needs?

    How is my region doing, especially in comparison to its peer regions?

    How do I find subregions related to my region?

    How do I use the map view to visualize economic data across the country?

  • Organizations

    View Organizations
  • Blog

    View Blog
  • Resources

    View Resources
  • Community

    The Community of Practice enables practitioners to share Resources, post Blogs, and find partner Organizations. View and contribute content of interest to the cluster based economic development community.

    View Community Page
EXPLORE

Search

Register
Sign in
Harvard Business School U.S. Economic Development Administration

Resources

Add Resource

Topic

  • All Topics
  • Academic Research
  • Cluster
  • Economic Policy
  • Entrepreneurship and Innovation
  • Regional Economy
  • Tools and Technical Documents

Sources

  • All Sources
  • U.S. Cluster Mapping
  1. Resources
  2. Academic Research
Economic Policy
Academic Research

The Competitive Advantage of Nations

by cmp.admin Wed, 09/22/2021 - 05:21

National prosperity is created, not inherited. It does not grow out of a country's natural endowments, its labor pool, its interest rates, or its currency's value, as classical economics insists.

A nation's competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade. Companies gain advantage against the world's best competitors because of pressure and challenge. They benefit from having strong domestic rivals, aggressive home-based suppliers, and demanding local customers. 

  • Read more  → about Blog Rivet

Academic Research

Defining Clusters of Related Industries

by cmp.admin Wed, 09/22/2021 - 04:10

Clusters are geographic concentrations of industries related by knowledge, skills, inputs, demand, and/or other linkages. A growing body of empirical literature has shown the positive impact of clusters on regional and industry performance, including job creation, patenting, and new business formation. There is an increasing need for cluster-based data to support research, facilitate comparisons of clusters across regions, and support policymakers and practitioners in defining regional strategies.

  • Read more  → about Blog Rivet

Economic Policy
Academic Research

The Competitive Advantage of Nations

by cmp.admin Wed, 09/22/2021 - 02:41

National prosperity is created, not inherited. It does not grow out of a country's natural endowments, its labor pool, its interest rates, or its currency's value, as classical economics insists.

A nation's competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade. Companies gain advantage against the world's best competitors because of pressure and challenge. They benefit from having strong domestic rivals, aggressive home-based suppliers, and demanding local customers. 

  • Read more  → about Blog Rivet

Academic Research

Report of the Commission on Inclusive Prosperity

by cmp.admin Tue, 01/20/2015 - 13:47

History tells us that societies succeed when the fruits of growth are broadly shared. Indeed, no society has ever succeeded without a large, prospering middle class that embraced the idea of progress. Today, the ability of free-market democracies to deliver widely shared increases in prosperity is in question as never before. The primary challenge democracies face is neither military nor philosophical.

  • Read more  → about Blog Rivet

Academic Research

The Development of the Cluster Concept - Present Experiences and Further Developments

by cmp.admin Fri, 11/15/2013 - 12:02

Increasing interest in clusters among researchers and economists is only one aspect of a new approach to economic research and policy, one that supplements the macroeconomic and legal conditions necessary to achieve economic progress with microeconomic foundations. This report presents an overview of the current research on cluster-based economic development. First, it looks at key conceptual foundations of the cluster approach: the definition of clusters, different types of clusters, economic benefits that clusters provide, and factors that influence cluster performance.

  • Read more  → about Blog Rivet

Academic Research

From clusters to cluster-based economic development

by cmp.admin Fri, 11/15/2013 - 12:02

Over the last decades, changes in the global economy and the emergence of Global Value Chains (GVCs) have raised interest in understanding the specific conditions and cross-company interactions within and across locations. For companies, the need to choose the right location for specific activities has moved from an operational to a strategic issue. For countries, regions and cities, competition raised the stakes of understanding how to improve productivity and attract firms in specific fields beyond providing low factor costs and subsidies. Many countries, from natural-resource-rich to transition economies and developed countries have launched competitiveness policies and cluster initiatives involving various stakeholders. This paper addresses how clusters can be leveraged for economic policy and what the role of different stakeholders in this process is. It summarises the cluster concept, focusing on the main theoretical framework and on recent empirical findings, and discusses key pillars of a cluster-based economic policy approach. The paper concludes with an application of the concept to resource-rich, oil-dependent economies.

  • Read more  → about Blog Rivet

Academic Research

Location, Competition, and Economic Development: Local Clusters in a Global Economy

by cmp.admin Fri, 11/15/2013 - 12:02

Economic geography during an era of global competition involves a paradox. It is widely recognized that changes in technology and competition have diminished many of the traditional roles of location. Yet clusters, or geographic concentrations of interconnected companies, are a striking feature of virtually every national, regional, state, and even metropolitan economy, especially in more advanced nations. The prevalence of clusters reveals important insights about the microeconomics of competition and the role of location in competitive advantage.

  • Read more  → about Blog Rivet

Academic Research

Recent research on competitiveness and clusters: what are the implications for regional policy?

by cmp.admin Fri, 11/15/2013 - 12:02

A new framing of competitiveness has clarified the role of regions in economic policy. Its empirical findings align well with existing literature on the drivers of regional economic performance, but there are opportunities for mutual learning. A step-change in the availability of data on clusters and cluster policies has enabled new research approaches, yet current cluster policies have been largely focused on strengthening existing agglomerations rather than creating new ones.

  • Read more  → about Blog Rivet

Academic Research

The Adam Smith Address: Location, Clusters, and the "New" Microeconomics of Competition

by cmp.admin Fri, 11/15/2013 - 12:02

The new microeconomics of competition is contained in frameworks that structure the complexity of competition and inform managers of choices that they must make. The role of location has shifted from factor endowments and size to productivity growth; factor inputs are abundant and accessed via globalization. To increase productivity, factor inputs must improve in efficiency, quality, and ultimately specialization in particular cluster areas, which are critical masses of companies in a particular location.

  • Read more  → about Blog Rivet

Academic Research

The Determinants of National Competitiveness

by cmp.admin Fri, 11/15/2013 - 12:02

This National Bureau of Economic Research working paper sets foundational competitiveness as the expected level of output per working-age individual that is supported by the overall quality of a country as a place to do business. The focus on output per potential worker, a broader measure of national productivity than output per current worker, reflects the dual role of workforce participation and output per worker in determining a nation's standard of living.

  • Read more  → about Blog Rivet

Pagination

  • Current page 1
  • Page 2
  • Next page ››
  • Last page Last »
Subscribe to Academic Research
  • Share
  • Affiliated Sites
  • Contact Us |
  • Partners |
  • Privacy Policy |
  • Terms of Use
Reporting Copyright Infringment

Copyright © 2020 President and Fellows of Harvard College.
All rights reserved.

The U.S. Cluster Mapping Project is led by Professor Michael E. Porter at the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, Harvard Business School.

This project is funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration.