Barriers and Enablers for SME Extended and Dynamic Clustering, Legal Barriers and Enablers

Abstract

The Deliverable has a twofold content. First of all, the focus of the paper will be on the legal form that a cluster can assume, starting from some figures that can be encountered in all (or, at least, in many) European jurisdictions, which will then be analysed in the light of the national provisions concerned. It will be assessed that clusters do not exist as a unique entity from the legal point of view or, better, they exist under many different forms. Laws generally are addressed not to clusters as such, but to JVs, associations, EEIGs, etc. Secondly, the Deliverable will analyse which elements, from the legal point of view and in the light of the scenarios described in the first part, can act as barriers and enablers for SMEs (in particular, extended and dynamic) clustering. In other words, this paper will integrate different legal factors in order to establish potential ‘success’ or ‘weak’ determinants for interorganisational collaboration within a cluster, taking a systemic approach which focuses on the analysis of such legal elements from the point of view of the cluster itself.

Keywords: Legal, cluster, SME, Europe, small, medium, enterprises, business