Cluster Development Policy and New Forms of Public—Private Partnership

Abstract

Since the early 1980s considerable academic attention has been paid to the progressive blurring of the boundary between public and private spheres of economic activity (OECD, 1998). Against a background of longer-term reform of the tasks of government and the approach to its conduct, the balance of responsibility between the private and public sectors has shifted, particularly with respect to government functions in the economy (Farnham and Horton, 1996). Indeed, a significant ‘crossover’ has taken place in the management of activities that overlap private and public, with an ever-increasing variety of joint public–private endeavours being developed.