Characteristics of foreign subsidiaries in industry clusters

This paper examines the characteristics of foreign-owned subsidiaries in ex port-intensive "leading-edge industry clusters" as defined by Porter [1990] . Using a sample of 229 subsidiaries from three countries, we show that sub sidiaries in such clusters are more embedded, more autonomous, and more int ernationally-oriented than subsidiaries in other industry sectors. We also show that there are significant differences in the roles of foreign-owned s ubsidiaries from one leading-edge cluster to the next, that are associated with the dynamism of the cluster and the overall level of foreign ownership . The results indicate (1) that typologies of subsidiary roles should give increased consideration to environmental factors, and (2) that thinking on industry clusters, instead of treating them identically, should recognize t hat they have heterogeneous characteristics.