Business clusters formation in Latvia

Abstract

The research paper is devoted to the issue – business clusters formation in Latvia. The purpose of this paper is to research aspects which have influenced the emergence of the business clusters in Latvia as well identify opportunities and challenges during the formation of Latvian clusters. In this research paper theoretical and empirical research methods are used, e.g. literature review and the survey of Latvian clusters representatives. The findings suggest that the most clusters in Latvia have emerged with the purpose to increase export volume and competitiveness of the cluster companies. The opportunity for the cluster formation is existing cooperation and contacts between partner companies because many cluster companies are members of industry association. The challenges for the cluster formation are lack of financial resources in the regions for the cluster development and poor understanding of the society what the cluster is.