A Study of Key Players in Sustainability and Transformation of Industrial Clusters:

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to clarify the role of key players and suggest a process model for sustainability and transformation of industrial clusters. We first review the extant literature on linkage firms and focus on the crucial role that they play in the sustainability of industrial clusters. Next, after critically examining the fact that linkage firms have only been discussed from the conventional local community-based perspective, we introduce the emergence of “merchant coordinators” as new key players in the transformation of industrial clusters beyond geographical constraints, by applying knowledge of commercial theory, value network theory, and the latest network theory of community capital. Then, we propose a hypothetical process model for the sustainability of industrial clusters that transcend geographical constraints, centered on merchant coordinators. Finally, through a case study of the electric bicycle industrial cluster in Wuxi, China, we verify and refine the proposed hypothetical process model.

Keywords

• linkage firm
• value network
• commercial theory
• merchant coordinators