The Role of the Business Clusters in the Competitiveness Problems Solutions for the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
Author: Chief Assist. Prof. Milen Baltov (Burgas Free University)
Keywords: Entrepreneurial network, business clusters, cluster initiative, competitiveness, economy of scale.
On the grounds of the understanding of the small and medium-sized enterprises success when in clusters is the fact that they operate like a system, in which the risk is socialised among a wide variety of public and private institutions. Besides the natural or "mature" clusters, it is possible the clusters to appear as a result of initiatives and project measures. The effect for the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is related mainly to the focus of the separate SMEs, the abilities for quick and adequate solutions of the problems, the advantage of the utilisation of the collective resources, the stimulating competitive environment and the atmosphere of trust. In search of the factors on which depends the process of stimulating the cluster initiative, are acknowledged the market environment, the barriers for the entry into business, the existence and the spreading of the know-how and trust, and the economic freedom. On this basis is also the identification of suitable initiatives in Bulgaria, and already successful experiments are settled.