Exploiting Locational Resources in a World of Global Value Chains: Strategic Considerations for Clustered Firms and Cluster Managers

The focus of this research is locational resources in overlapping value-adding webs of firms who at the same time may be embedded in global value chains. Through global value chains, regions are both vulnerable to exclusion and hence job loss. However, they also have opportunities to develop value-adding and job generation activities that are integrated into global value chains. The purpose of this chapter is to bring together a strategic firm perspective with cluster management activities. The rationale behind our conceptualisation of locational resources is to enable cluster managers to reduce the complexity of analysing location factors. This gives them criteria to assess the value of resources for cluster firms and shows avenues for sustaining and upgrading them, and placing them within the opportunities offered beyond the region. To achieve this, we bring together the findings of cluster research from a resource-oriented perspective. We contribute to a better understanding of how firms can exploit the resources that they have access to locally and suggest how cluster managers can shape these locational resources.