Conference Paper

Industrial clusters allow companies to be more productive and more innovative. The Industrial clusters develop unique knowledge and skills difficult to be replicated. Thus, the Industrial Clusters in fact contribute to the competitive advantage of the region in which they exist, and this seems to be case even in the situation of a prolonged recession and economic crisis. In this paper we explore the most probable behavior of the members of the clusters under conditions of prolonged economic crisis, examining their readiness to trade the conducive climate of the cluster for the significant tax reductions offered by other regions. In other words, we argue that the advantages of being a member of a cluster are crucial for relative growth and even survival, and that the members of successful clusters will not be willing to swap these advantages for the tax incentives offered by various regional or state authorities elsewhere.