MARITIME CLUSTERS EVOLUTION. THE (NOT SO) STRANGE CASE OF THE PORTUGUESE MARITIME CLUSTER

Abstract

Experience around the world has shown that the concept of clustering suits particularly well to maritime businesses. There are numerous benefits, ranging from increased market awareness to connections with R&D institutes and from strategic co-operations to inter-related maritime activities. Despite the large maritime industry in Europe and worldwide, there is little systematic information concerning the degree of interaction between maritime firms: the European network of maritime clusters is one of the few pioneering initiatives. The concept of maritime cluster has a dynamic connotation. As Porter (1998, p.245) argues the “ultimate test of the health or decline of a cluster is its rate of innovation”. There is a clear dependency between the commitment to innovate and profitability in businesses. As such, these clusters evolve over time in terms of the composition of the services provided, reflecting different stages of economic and social development. Maritime clusters evolution can be studied referring to biological science (Zhang and Lam, 2013) allowing for comparative and prospect analysis. A comparison between different European and non-European maritime clusters is presented, in order that a cluster typology can be established. The article finishes with the proposal of a strategy for developing the potential Portuguese maritime cluster.