The Evolution of Regional Industry Clusters and Their Implications for Sustainable Economic Development

The ability to detect embryonic yet dynamic industry cluster changes can help regional decision makers proactively create strategic initiatives that support value-based development. This article examines cluster trends in California's central San Joaquin Valley and northeast Indiana through the introduction of quantitative methods that detect microchanges in cluster development. These methods capture whether a region's clusters are evolving and, if so, how they are changing. Built on the foundation of traditional quantitative cluster analysis techniques, these additional screening methods can capture entrepreneurial and innovative activity within the industry cluster context at an earlier stage than traditional methods can. This approach can provide industry sector clues as to what may drive future cluster development, both positive and negative, and it can offer early-stage opportunities to assess job quality and productivity to help determine the sustainability of new cluster developments.