Unpacking the paradox on the evolutionary force of the industrial clusters

Industry cluster, a synonym for the region with high productivity and intense innovative activities in the past twenties, is a complex economic phenomenon exhibiting obvious features of evolutionary process underpinned by its inherent force while triggered by external one. The present literature and conclusions on its evolutionary force are rather confusing, full of controversies and disputes among them. This paper reviews the current literature on industrial clusters from perspectives of top-down and bottom-up approaches, irrespectively, on its evolutionary force, in an attempt to revealing the limitations and the connection among them. As a result, this paper argues that it is the researching perspectives at odds and the differentiated definitions on key resources that result in such chaos. Only with the systematic and multidisciplinary approach can we unpack this paradox.