Network Cooperation, Network Openness, and Clusters Performance: A Comparative Study between Industry Clusters

The paper draws on social network theory and open innovation theory to understand the effects of network cooperation and openness respectively on clusters performance. It is assumed that a cluster's performance is clearly influenced by two crucially important network characteristics: the network cooperation and network openness, but the relative effects of network operation and openness on the performance are moderated by the environment variation. It firstly explores two regional clusters in Advanced East China manufacturing areas respectively and shows that the relative effects of network cooperation and openness on the cluster performance are obviously different in the different clusters. By comparing the two clusters, it together shows the moderating effects of environment variables on the relationship between the performance and network cooperation and openness. It suggests the role of network cooperation and openness must be considered differently according to the environmental variation. If the cluster relies on the network cooperation but the quality of cooperation is low, it would tend to be trapped by path-dependency and knowledge lock-in.