Clusters phenomenon from Polish perspective

Abstract

Rapid development of a global economy underlines an increasing importance of competitiveness. The phenomenon of competition is involved in all spheres of our life. It appears between the countries or economies in a global context, companies contesting markets, and between people competing with one another. It is characterized by many layers. Competitiveness constitutes an indispensible element of the very complex and multi-dimensional phenomenon of clusters. This paper presents the phenomenon of clusters from the Polish perspective. It characterizes the background for clusters growth in Poland, their current stage of development and the existing clusterbased policy. Based on the examined group of Polish clusters, vital characteristics regarding clusters' structure, activities, management and financing are being distinguished and depicted. In addition to that, pinpointing the best practices implemented and at the same time, confronting the problems which came across, allows determining the existing conditions in Poland and putting more attention to the features which have to be improved in order to enable successful cluster development in the future.