ABSTRACT

Many studies have shown that successful industrial clusters promote the progress of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Because of this, many governments in the world, including Indonesia, enthusiastic perform comparative studies of cluster policy. Thus, it is important to understand the characteristics of SMEs as input in formulating policies of industrial cluser development. The purpose of research focused on the analysis of whether the associated cluster of wood and rattan furniture industry, which has exited long enough in Jepara, has established a pattern of awareness among employers in considering the benefits of cooperation as well proportionately between cooperation and competition. In various studies of scientific literature, this issue called the term “coopetition”. Thus, the benefits of this research are useful in formulating policy towards strengthening industrial clusters of wooden and rattan furniture in Jepara toward solid industrial district, more integrated both backward (backward linkage) or integrated to the front (forward lingkage). In the end the expected mature industrial cluster of wooden furniture and rattan in Jepara will be transformed into a form of industry and widely influential in regional and national economy.

The paper finds out that almost all of differentiating dimensions (discriminant factor)significantly influential in differentiating into three patterns of interaction between firms in industrial cluster of wooden furniture and rattan in Jepara. There is only one dimension that is not significant, ie, the horizontal dimension of cooperation. These result indicate that the industrial cluster of wooden furniture and rattan in Jepara has long exist, where the cycles and patterns of cooperation, a factor which could show variation related to differences in perceptions of employer. The result showed that the employer awareness about the important role of competition and cooperation has balanced. This situation has characterized by maturity of existing of cluster cycle, and developed of cooperation with characteristic bilateral, multirateral, and vertical. Thus, it is indicating that the cluster is ready to metamorphose into a form more complexes as well as agglomeration. This condition needs to examine further by looking at the impact of the maturity cycle of an industrial cluster and a more complex pattern of cooperation towards the establishment of prerequisites agglomeration and its impact on industrial performance and competitiveness clusters taken together, as well as the economic development of the region.

 

Keywords : Cluster cycle, interaction patterns, coopetition, competitiveness, industry performance