Transformations  in
Business & Economics

CLUSTER POLICY MODELS IN THE VISEGRAD GROUP COUNTRIES - A COMPARATIVE STUDY
Anna H. Jankowiak

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this paper is to present the cluster policy models in the V4 countries in the context of their differences and similarities. The analysis of the cluster policy included the following areas: understanding of clusters, levels of governance, policy targets, identification and selection of clusters to support, institutional configurations of cluster initiatives, instruments used to support clusters, and time point and/or duration of support. As follows from the research, in practice every country pursues a different cluster policy, although some common elements and tools can be identified. The form of the cluster policy ensues from variety of the overlapping factors and resources of the individual national economies. The group of the countries under this study shows many similarities in the conduct of the cluster policy, which a mainly stems from the fact that they take the cluster policy of the European Union as the role model. From the data presented in this article, it has been concluded that similarly to the fact that no two identical clusters can be created in different locations, it is also not possible to create one model of the cluster policy that will be always effective .

KEYWORDS:  clusters, cluster policy, Visegrad countries, V4 group.

JEL classification:  L52, O11, O25, O32.