Towards a cluster identity- the case of RoboCluster

Abstract

In today’s business world, there is a major accent put on differentiation and the creation of sustainable competitive advantage. An agreed method in order to achieve these targets is that of branding. The phenomenon of branding has been extended in the past to corporate, country, place or personal branding. Therefore, a normal extension will also be the branding of clusters. But, at the core of branding it lays the identity of the elements that will be branded.

With little to no research in the cluster identity field, the present study aims to introduce this concept in the attention of the business literature. Moreover, the study aims to design a future framework for analysis.

The theoretical part introduces the main concepts of the paper. To start with, there is a discussion around the definitions of clusters and their main characteristics, as well as an introduction to the brand. The second part of the theory aims to make some light regarding the identity principle. It is here that different approaches to corporate identity are identified, and the approach of the study is decided.

The empirical part is concentrated around RoboCluster, a robotics and automation cluster from Denmark. The research is based on a qualitative study, where interviews were used as a mean of data collection. The results of the research have been gathered in a case study.

According to the research, cluster identity is formed by the corporate philosophy and the corporate personality. In addition, this is greatly influenced by the actors' corporate identity, which in turn is influenced by the stage in the life cycle of the company, its experience on the market and the number of employees.