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The evolution of cluster network structure and firm growth: a study of industrial software clusters

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Abstract

Since the cluster began to receive attention as a critical environmental factor in geographical economics, it has provided a major research methodology across multiple disciplines from industrial organization, strategic management, regional innovation system, and Triple Helix to virtual clusters. Network structure analysis (NSA) offers a common framework to observe clusters that have been studied separately from the viewpoint of industrial organization and strategic management. Industrial structure analysis, is based on the externality of a network and the resource-based view, focused on the inherent network capacity, have been combined with the study of structural changes through cluster NSA, to create a new direction for the growth of industry and individual firms. This study aims to analyze the correlation between the networking of structural change and a firm’s performance by selecting a software industrial cluster as a representative case for the knowledge industry. We examine the network structural positions of each node during the cluster evolution process. This empirical study has significance for establishing a firm’s growth strategy as well as supporting the policy about clusters, through outlining the dynamic evolution process of the networking activities in a knowledge industry cluster.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea, which is Grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2011-330-B00046).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management Science, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Yuseong Gu, Taejon, Republic of Korea

    Hee Dae Kim, Duk Hee Lee & Il Won Seo

  2. Management Strategy Team, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, Yuseong Gu, Taejon, Republic of Korea

    Hochull Choe

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  1. Hee Dae Kim
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  2. Duk Hee Lee
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  3. Hochull Choe
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  4. Il Won Seo
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Correspondence to Duk Hee Lee.

Appendix 1

Appendix 1

ICT Park History and Growth .

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Kim, H.D., Lee, D.H., Choe, H. et al. The evolution of cluster network structure and firm growth: a study of industrial software clusters. Scientometrics 99, 77–95 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-013-1094-5

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