CLUSTERING AND FIRM PERFORMANCE

The concept of clustering has his origin nearly a century back in time, which is developed by the economist Marshall. However, it became a mainstream economical concept in 1990 when Porter shed new light on this topic. Co-located firms are expected to have several advantages compared to non-clustered firms, which will be tested in a Dutch agricultural case using both LISA and CBS data from 1996-2017. This positive effect of clustering on firm performance could be attributed to greater knowledge spill overs between co-located firms, lower transaction costs and several other beneficial factors, which relationship is industry dependent. This study has not been able to find a significant relationship between clustering and the growth rate of employment. However, it did find a positive relationship between clustering and the probability of survival, which is of great importance for governments and on firm level.