Innovative Clusters: Qualitative Assessment of Strategic Potential

Strategic potential assessment integrates both quantitative and qualitative methods. Innovative clusters require innovative analytical tools. The article introduces a new qualitative methodology for assessing the strategic innovative potential of cluster structures that rely on the strategic innovative potential of their parts for the sustainable development and competitiveness of the entire structure. A review of available studies on strategic potential and clustering made it possible to integrate quantitative and qualitative methods into a single assessment tool and test its performance on a specific cluster. Using the method of taxonomic analysis, the author ranked the innovation potential indicators, while the methods of structural analysis and comparison revealed the internal relationships between cluster elements. The experiment yielded a set of practical recommendations for increasing the innovative potential of clusters. The taxonomy method proved especially effective. First, it provided an integrated assessment of the innovative potential for each company within a cluster. Second, it revealed the possibility of tracking the progress of individual indicators and determining their contribution. Third, it established the cause-and-effect relationships between parameters that had a positive or negative impact on the strategic innovative sustainability of each cluster. The new methodology is a universal strategic analysis tool that stimulates innovations, compares cluster parts, and optimizes the task allocation while increasing the transparency and manageability of the entire cluster. Its application may strengthen the role of cluster structures in innovative regional and industrial strategic planning.