Institutional and Governance Practices as Mediating Variables in the Development of Innovation within Clusters

The globalization of value chains has generated an extreme intensification of competition. Researchers highlight two essential characteristics: innovation and competitiveness. Currently, clustering policy is one of the most used territorial strategies by industrial and technological companies to improve innovation performance levels. The objective of this work is to support the idea of a positive relationship between spatial agglomeration of production activities in the form of a cluster and innovation, conditioned by mediating factors. Specifically, the hypothesis defended is that institutional and governance practices favor the emergence and diffusion of innovation within the cluster. The research question mobilizes several basic theories: location theory to present the structural determinants of innovation in clusters, institutional theory to legitimize cluster interactions, organizational theory to present governance practices essential for good management of interactions in favor of innovation, and innovation theories. The field of study chosen was the emergence of the clustering policy in Morocco, whose main objective is to help set up innovative projects. This thesis work is guided by the main problem of whether concrete institutional and governance practices implemented by the clusters contribute to innovation. Data collected from a sample of companies from three Moroccan clusters are analyzed using the structural equation method (PLS-SEM). The empirical results highlight the existence of a positive relationship between industrial cluster membership and innovation performance, reinforced by the mediating role of institutional practices and the existence of governance unity.