Industrial clusters as a strategy for developing small and medium enterprises (A comparative and applied study on Egypt)

Industrial clusters and “cluster theory” have recently emerged as a widely accepted leading economic policy for increasing industrial efficiency. Clusters represent one of the strategies that many countries have come to rely on, and its idea is based on how to achieve economic development through developing the base of small and medium enterprises, which represents the basis for the industrial cluster strategy, by creating a circle of productive interconnections between these projects and public and private sector institutions. This study aims to highlight the importance of industrial clusters in solving the problems facing small and medium enterprises, enriching the policies and mechanisms adopted to develop and activate their role in economic development, and enhancing their competitive advantage by following the descriptive-deductive analysis approach, which is in line with the nature of the current study, which aims to Presenting specific characteristics and features of the concept of industrial clusters and analyzing several cases that apply this concept, the comparative approach by presenting a case study to identify the nature of some models of industrial clusters existing in countries of the world, and the applied approach by applying the concept of industrial clusters to Egypt to identify their nature about Egypt. In addition, we apply what we saw in other countries to develop and make the idea successful in Egypt. After studying the nature of the industrial cluster strategy, its role in achieving sustainable development, and reviewing the international experiences of the industrial cluster strategy and the situation in Egypt; Many conclusions were reached, most notably that these industrial clusters play a pivotal role in supporting competitiveness by addressing structural imbalances and obstacles facing small and medium industries, the importance of industrial clusters and their role in achieving economic development in many of the world’s economies, due to the advantages they achieve in terms of Optimal exploitation of the country's economic resources and its competitive advantages, increasing exports, contributing to the growth of small and medium enterprises, and attracting more local and foreign investments. The success of industrial clusters in any country requires the achievement of strong mutual and interconnected relationships between different sectors.