Capturing cluster life cycle with a mixed‐method analysis: Evidence from a French cluster case study

This article contributes to the growing literature on cluster life cycles (CLC) by demonstrating the opportunities offered by a mixed‐method approach. The combination of qualitative and quantitative data is useful both to describe the evolution of network patterns and to provide an understanding of the drivers of CLC. Based on the literature, we rely on a theoretical background integrating the pre‐existing context (cognitive, institutional, and social) in which actors involved in the nascent cluster are embedded, in order to capture the impact of the genesis period on the cluster's subsequent trajectory. The operationalization of this mixed‐method focused on one case study highlights the determining period of the genesis, since CLC is rooted in (a) the building of interpersonal relationships between actors from science and industry, (b) a longstanding specialization in a technological domain, and (c) policy opportunities and guidelines. The cluster trajectory remains driven by the initial policies, the cluster's nascent specialization and the founders' pre‐existing relationships over time, with an evolving role of each type of embeddedness over time.