Identification, Typologization, and Performance Implications of Regional Clusters' Business Models

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Elisabeth Müller
• Subject Area: Accounting and Finance
• Term: from 2015 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 280941669

Firms locate in regional clusters in order to generate added value by cooperating with nearby firms from related industries and with other institutions like research facilities. They seek to benefit from positive cluster externalities, such as increased knowledge spillovers, to enhance their competitive edge. In the last few decades, public subsidies and private investments pushed the formation of new regional clusters, particularly in Europe and the United States. Due to these initiatives, today's cluster landscape is heterogeneous and fragmented and by far not all clusters are considered to be successful in generating positive cluster externalities. Extant research on regional clusters in the sub-disciplines of strategy and organization lacks a systematic approach that enables a comprehensive analysis of the clusters' business logics and thus sheds light on why some clusters succeed in creating value for the incumbent firms while others do not. The business model concept can serve as the foundation for this analysis. So far, it is used on an organizational level to explain how firms work and achieve to create value. The objective of this research project is to transfer the business model concept for the first time to the inter-organizational level of regional clusters and to develop a typology of regional clusters' business models that allows for a systematic analysis of performance differentials between the clusters. I seek to accomplish this objective during a five-month research stay at the Wharton School of Business (University of Pennsylvania, USA), focusing on two major steps: 1) I conceptually transfer the business model elements, as they are defined in the literature, from the organizational context to the inter-organizational context of regional clusters. As far as necessary, I adapt the elements following theoretical considerations based on the main theories of the sub-disciplines (e.g. transaction cost economics, strategic network theory).2) The novel business model concept is then studied with regard to its empirical manifestation in European and US-American clusters. In particular, I identify empirical business model types of regional clusters using observation, interview, survey, and secondary data to capture the single business model elements. Finally, I statistically analyze the sources of performance differentials between the types to conclude on the meaningfulness of the business model elements for the success of a cluster. In this research project, I create knowledge on the business model concept, expand its explanatory power, and adapt it for the use in the inter-organizational context. Therewith, I contribute to a stronger establishment of the concept in the sub-disciplines of strategy and organization. Also, this project opens avenues for further systematic analyses of inter-organizational constructs, such as regional clusters, by providing a novel approach to investigating their business logics.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Host: Professor Dr. Raphael Amit