CLUSTER’S LIFE CYCLE: HOW SPECIFIC PUBLIC POLICIES CAN CHANGE THE TREND

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the discussion on clusters competitiveness and paths dependence. Italian clusters offer a recognized example of territorial production model, however, recent studies in the field showed that it is passing through a crisis. Several enterprises are delocalizing their manufacturing processes abroad losing the shared knowledge that characterizes the cluster culture. This paper is part of the area of studies that analyses cluster dynamics (Krackhardt, 1994