CLUSTER DYNAMICS AND INNOVATION IN SMEs: THE ROLE OF CULTURE

When we talk of clusters in Indian context, it is very difficult to avoid Tirupur cluster reference. In all cluster related conversations Tirupur is assumed as an exception for any kind of success story. Why Tirupur is assumed to be sure success for joint actions for common benefits? There are many reasons which I have experienced in the last 10 years. One of the most important one is the culture of Tirupur. The experience of Tirupur shows that strength of a local economic system, and its capacity to grow and to innovate, are closely related to the pattern of knowledge (thus cultural) stratification, to the territory itself and to learning capacity. When we gave them a presentation on the the growing need of Tirupur SME to integrate better in globally economy, Tirupur Exporters Association instantly agreed to have their common own ICT infrastructure ( E-Readiness centre ) . This shows their cultural capacity to collectively acknowledge that ICT is an important global integration tool, thus TEA play a key role when considering the dynamics of innovation process and growth opportunities for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Tirupur hosiery cluster in India is a live example of this. There are several factors visible in the behaviour of TEA , such as the cohesion of stakeholders for the creation of innovation, the development of new institutions in the cluster.

To know more about role of culture in cluster dynamics and innovations there is a very interesting reading CLUSTER DYNAMICS AND INNOVATION IN SMEs: THE ROLE OF CULTURE by Callegati Enrico e Silvia Grandi available on line at
http://www.eblacenter.unito.it/WP/2005/3_WP_Ebla.pdf