Understanding Clusters

Steve Daniels writing in the Postconsumption:

All throughout the developing world one can find geospatial clusters of informal enterprises that have grown either through an organic capital accumulation process or a government allocation of land. In Kenya, a number of such clusters exist: Gikomba, Kamukunji, Kariobangi, Ziwani, Kibuye, and Quarry Road to name just a few. These clusters start out as grouping of either producers or traders and will likely end up as a mix of manufacturing and market activities. Clustering is what allows informal microenterprises to produce efficiently--they rely on a well-developed ecosystem of producers, suppliers, machinists, and traders to provide services, each with minimal operating costs. Linkages among enterprises can be horizontal (labor pooling, sharing machines, etc.) or vertical (relationships with suppliers and traders, associations, etc.).