Title: Policy-based clusters as institutions and laboratories of institutional change: the case of France

Authors: Maria Bonnafous-Boucher; Catherine Chastenet De Géry; Eric Michael Laviolette

Addresses: Novancia Business School, Paris, 3 rue Armand Moisant – CS 815560, 75731 Paris Cedex 15, France ' Novancia Business School, Paris, 3 rue Armand Moisant – CS 815560, 75731 Paris Cedex 15, France ' Novancia Business School, Paris, 3 rue Armand Moisant – CS 815560, 75731 Paris Cedex 15, France

Abstract: The objective of this article is to demonstrate that policy-based clusters can be seen as institutions and laboratories of institutional change. Taking the case of France where a national policy has been established with a set of common rules for 71 clusters, we explore and discuss these two hypotheses. Firstly, building on a case study of Medicen, a biotechnological cluster, we show that new formal and informal rules are being elaborated through a permanent interaction between the various cluster organisations and the cluster itself as an institution. Secondly, based on a statistical analysis of 71 French clusters, we reveal four categories of policy-based clusters as laboratories of institutional change. Even if common institutionalisation trends may appear at one stage, we argue that instead of homogeneity and isomorphism, the policy-based clusters are undergoing change and engendering variety on the long run.

Keywords: institutions; policy-based clusters; governance; institutional change; France; biotechnology clusters; variety.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEIM.2015.073222

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, 2015 Vol.19 No.5/6, pp.363 - 385

Accepted: 12 Oct 2014
Published online: 29 Nov 2015 *

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