Benefits and barriers of participation in production networks in a metallurgical cluster - research results

Abstract

In this paper, the research results of surveys which were conducted in a Polish metallurgical cluster and among enterprises which are potential members of such production networks are presented. These results show that there is a high level of free capacity that can be used in the formation of production networks. The idea of the creation of long term clusters of industry or service enterprises give new possibilities to increase performance and productivity and seek higher levels of innovation. Through exploitation of the synergy effect, such concepts allow better economic results and a competitive advantage over other market players to be obtained. The key concerns about the functioning of enterprises in production networks within a cluster are following: a lack of confidence in potential partners, loss of data and concerns about the division of costs and revenues.