Clusters development takes place in an increasingly changing and complex context where global and local developments are interconnected. Various regional and innovation studies recognize the need for place-based studies to include the larger context in which clusters and regions are found. Interest and discourse on the value of complexity approaches to cluster studies is increasing, with the aim to gain deeper understanding of processes taking place in complex cluster development. This discourse was initiated by Martin & Sunley (2003) and explored extensively by Cooke (2012) in his study of ‘complex adaptive innovation systems’. Work in this area of research is limited and empirical study could add to understanding the complexity of cluster development.
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Clusters development takes place in an increasingly changing and complex context where global and local developments are interconnected. Various regional and innovation studies recognized the need for place-based studies to include the larger context in which clusters and regions are found. Interest and discourse on the value of complexity approaches to cluster studies has been increasing, with the aim to gain deeper understanding of processes taking place in complex cluster development (Martin & Sunley, 2003; Cooke, 2012) Work in this area of research is limited and empirical study could add to understanding the complexity of cluster development.
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his paper develops a new, broader, and more realistic lens to study (lacking) linkages between government policy and school practices. Drawing on recent work in organization theory, we advance notions on cluster of organization routines and the logic of complementarities underlying organizational change. This lens allows looking at how schools do (not) change a cluster of organization routines in response to multiple, simultaneous demands posed by government policies. Thirteen purposively selected Dutch secondary schools responding to three central government policies calling for concurrent change were analyzed, taking the schedule of a school as an exemplary case of a cluster of organization routines. Five distinct responses were distinguished, which can be sorted according to their impact on the whole organization. The study fnds that ten of the thirteen schools did not change anything in response to at least one of the three policies we studied. However, all schools changed their cluster of organization routines, which impacted the whole organization in response to at least one of the three government policies. Therefore, looking at combinations of responses and considering the impact of change on school organizations qualifes ideas about schools being resistant to policy or unwilling to change and improve.
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