TCIOceania14 Collaboration in clusters

Collaboration in Clusters
Dr Philip Walls
30 May 2014

www.i3net.com.au info@i3net.com.au Call: 0404 030 023
The Illawarra Innovative Industry Network “Your Gateway to World Class Industrial Solutions”
Collaboration in Clusters
Dr. Philip Walls
i3net
Director of Network Operations

Wollongong and the Illawarra
LOCATION and REACH
Our network is based in Wollongong.
We actively seek opportunities outside the
region.
One of our goals is to assist in developing
international business opportunities for our
members.

Port Expansion

Innovation & Training
University
TAFE
The Illawarra Innovative
Industry Network
i3net
80+ members
and sponsors
Government
Council
State
Federal
Business Support
Finance, Legal
Accounting, Media
Business Suppliers
Members
Mechanical &
Electrical Engineering
Industrial Services
& Supplies

COLLABORATION WITHIN THE NETWORK
“Create opportunities for those in the network to engage
for the ultimate benefit of the region”
Company Representatives
Entrepreneurs
Investors
Researchers , Trainers
Business Support & Development
Agencies
Politicians
“It’s crucial for cities to nurture their industry “clusters” – concentrations of businesses
that collaborate, compete and feed off each other “ - Toronto Board of Trade

B2B Collaboration
We foster business to business collaboration, by holding regular networking
events, at which project opportunities are presented.
Members have the opportunitiy to engage with each other
and form alliances. How to best promote these?
Aims:
Projects with multiple member involvement.
Identify and leverage collective assets.
Share information: Get a collective sense of what is
happening in the market.

Collaboration with Research and Development organisations
Assistance with product or idea development.
Innovation incubator and business acceleration programs.
(University of Wollongong Innovation campus)
Collaboration with Training organisations
Working with training organisations to develop courses that train
people in the exact skills local companies need.
This is a win-win situation as the training organisation is paid to
supply local employers with the correctly skilled staff.

Collaboration with Support and Funding Agencies
Public and private sector involvement.
Government Grants, Tax information and Assistance
programs.
Angel and venture capital raising.
Provide members with up-to-date
information in an ever-changing
regulatory landscape.

Coopetition Study
+
UoW Business School researchers looked at 8 companies within i3net.
Coopetition* refers to the simultaneous and coexisting
cooperation and competition among the members of value
networks. For example, the same companies may compete for
some tenders within the region for a major client, while at the
same time, they may jointly bid for projects outside the region.
*(Brandenburger & Nalebuff 1996; Luo 2004)

From the study three major coopetition strategies were
identified.
1. Independence, mostly highly specialised, small firms
looking after their own business and compete with each
other.
2. Buyer dominance, illustrated by sub-contracting type
arrangements with little evidence of information sharing or
longer term synergies.
3. Interdependence, in which contractual arrangements
allow win/win loose/loose situations and more operational
synergies.

Closing Remarks
1. i3net is a “collaboration facilitator” in the Illawarra.
2. We promote strengthening existing relationships
between members and generating new collaborative
linkages between all members.
3. We are continuing to work toward providing a better
platform for collaboration between members.
4. We promote collaboration between small and larger
member companies for joint bids on interstate projects.
5. We still have a fair way to go!

TCIOceania14 Collaboration in clusters

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