Industrial Clusters in Slovenia – a Success Story ?

Slovenia has begun with its national cluster policy in 2001. Industrial clusters have been a prevalent element of Slovenian competitiveness policy for next four years. More than thirty cluster initiatives were born in Slovenia in that period. The authors of this paper have followed the birth, organization and performance of industrial clusters in Slovenia for the period of three years. Based on several indepth case studies in Slovenia and Austria we have built a cluster development and organization model applicable to smaller (transitional) countries. We have identified factors that have an impact on cluster development and organization at the level of general business environment. At the same time we have identified a government role in fostering clusters. But external factors are not the only factors influencing clusters. There are also internal factors that are in the hands of the cluster actors. These are factors that directly influence cluster development and organization process. We have classified them in four areas and they will be also presented in this paper. We have also identified four stages of cluster birth, organization and growth. The model is highly applicable as it combines research results with best practices based on several case studies.