Ms Rebecca McIlwraith
Rebecca graduated with Bachelor of Textile Design, Victoria University in 1997. From 1997 - 2000, she worked and lived in the Middle East and then returned to New Zealand in 2001. Rebecca is currently studying for a Masters of Management, Massey University and is working at a government institution "Trade New Zealand".
Industry Clusters: Experiences of Inter Firm Co-operation and Replicability in the Fashion Industry of New Zealand.
The industrial cluster concept (Porter 1990) underlies current industry and regional development policies world-wide. Drawn from the success of Italian industrial districts, the theory propounds a link existing between geographic industry concentration and international competitiveness. The cluster concept has gained significant attention from policy makers in New Zealand. As a result, formal policy mechanisms are being implemented to raise competitiveness by encouraging co-operation among small to medium sized enterprises. However the evidence supporting the effectiveness of such programmes is mixed (Ingley 1999). This paper reviews the cluster concept and examines both mature, naturally evolved industry concentrations and newly formed clusters within the fashion industries of New Zealand. This is done via an exploration of issues emerging from the debate in the literature surrounding the cluster concept and it's replicability. In particular the paper examines ways in which clustering has improved export growth into foreign markets of the New Zealand fashion industries. This includes a critical examination of cluster marketing, the present situations and ways of improvement. It discusses success factors of each cluster; the influence the cluster model has had in attaining these results and particular elements relating to cluster formation and operation that could be translated to other cluster work for more rapid results.
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