Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • 2015
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

Can Marshall's Clusters Survive Globalization?

By: Giulio Buciuni and Gary P. Pisano
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:37
ShareBar

Abstract

It is widely presumed that in today's globalized economy, the value of geographic clustering of manufacturing industries is no longer valuable. Manufacturing is represented as a highly mobile "commodity" that can be sourced from anywhere in the world where factor costs are favorable. This paper re-examines this assumption and suggests that not all manufacturing is highly mobile. We suggest that manufacturing sectors should be viewed along a continuum from highly mobile to highly "sticky." Manufacturing clusters can decline for two completely different reasons. The first is a change in technology that reduces the value of co-location (stickiness). This tends to lead to the decoupling of design and production activities and to a broad geographic diffusion of manufacturing. The second is a shift in the relative comparative advantage of clusters located in one region versus another. Under this scenario, geographic concentration is still valuable, but the center of production activity can shift from one location to another. The paper then analyzes how firm supply chain strategies impact stickiness and the survival of manufacturing clusters.

Keywords

Manufacturing; Globalization; Marshall Industrial Clusters; Global Supply Chains; Manufacturing Industry

Citation

Buciuni, Giulio, and Gary P. Pisano. "Can Marshall's Clusters Survive Globalization?" Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 15-088, May 2015.
  • Read Now

About The Author

Gary P. Pisano

Technology and Operations Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • March 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Azenta Life Sciences: The Road to Transformation

    By: Gary P. Pisano and Catherine Piner
    • March 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Woven Planet - Designing Software for the Car of the Future

    By: Gary P. Pisano and Catherine Piner
    • Faculty Research

    Diversification as an Adaptive Learning Process: An Empirical Study of General-Purpose and Market-Specific Technological Know-How in New Market Entry

    By: Dominika Kinga Randle and Gary P. Pisano
More from the Authors
  • Azenta Life Sciences: The Road to Transformation By: Gary P. Pisano and Catherine Piner
  • Woven Planet - Designing Software for the Car of the Future By: Gary P. Pisano and Catherine Piner
  • Diversification as an Adaptive Learning Process: An Empirical Study of General-Purpose and Market-Specific Technological Know-How in New Market Entry By: Dominika Kinga Randle and Gary P. Pisano
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College