As scholars, the authors should challenge this technocratic faith of policy-makers and practitioners, although evaluation is beyond this paper’s scope.
The conceputal framework (figure 1) is very similar to the 'cluster initiative performance model' in the Cluster Initiative Greenbook (Solvell et al., 2003), adding the hypothesis that there might be an interaction between policy context and management and being somewhat more narrow on the elements included. There are also existing reviews of cluster policies in Europe that should be considered (Clusters are Individuals, 2012, BMWi; VDI/VDE; Dasti). There is also a growing literature on cluster initiative management in Europe (see the EU's "Excellence Initiative' with the benchmarking of cluster initiatives) that should be considered.