Why are clusters beneficial? A review of the literature

The aim of this work is to shed some light on the origin of some of the more important advantages of clusters. To do so, we will address the heterogeneity of the advantages of clusters by analyzing the different contributions found in the literature. Following our analysis of the literature, we can see that, first of all, different advantages are derived from the region where the cluster is located and, second, the cluster provides the businesses that comprise it with important advantages. Among the first advantages we can identify are trust, access to infrastructures, and incentives and performance quantification. The second group of advantages consists of access to information and specialized resources at a lower cost, improvement of human capital, flexibility, creation of new businesses, and innovation. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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