Many Americans regard Silicon Valley and Route 128 as symbols of America's economic and technological success; they are held out as models for the rest of the American economy. But their success is misleading. In fact, the U.S. microelectronics industry is too fragmented; very few start-ups ever become large enough to compete effectively in global markets. More importantly, because these firms have not been able to develop close working relationships with their customers, who are primarily traditional manufacturing companies, the latter continue to slip further behind. The innovations of America's high-tech firms are not being diffused throughout the rest of the American economy.
The paper analyses two models of successful clusters at the international level, namely, the model of French competitiveness poles and the American model of innovative clusters. In this regard it was considered the study of the policies regarding the structure of organization and governance of the French and the American clusters, their principles of operation, funding systems, and their specific peculiarities. The paper also provides a comparative analysis of the main features of these two models of clusters, highlighting the factors that contribute to their success at the international level, aspects that are part of the competitiveness policy supported by the respective states.
This volume will be a valuable reference tool for the WTO community as a whole, as well as for professionals and researchers, who deal with one of the sectors concerned, e.g. financial services and telecommunications.