At present, the development of clusters in Belarus is very urgent. The potential for such a form of cooperation of enterprises is very large, especially in the private sector. For our country it is a promising way of development of small and medium business.
Today we cooperate with German experts in cluster development, and at the end of last year we had an opportunity to get acquainted with the experience of forming and developing a number of leading clusters in Germany. However, I believe that the form of organization of clusters in our country will be somewhat different from that in Germany. German clusters are formed, as a rule, around large “anchor” enterprises. A lot of small companies supplying components and raw materials fulfill their orders, competing with each other. As a result, only the most competitive ones remain in the cluster, which ensures a constant increase in the overall production efficiency.
In Belarus, this form of organizing clusters is very difficult to implement, since most large enterprises have a state form of ownership, and the structural subdivisions of the same enterprises are engaged in the supply of raw materials and components. The management of such companies is not interested in their restructuring. Therefore, it is not necessary to count on the state sector as a source of development of clusters. In this matter, we must bet on private small and medium-sized enterprises.
In my opinion, the creation of a cluster should be associated with the solution of a specific problem. This means that the cluster must be based on an innovative idea aimed at eliminating specific problems.
In our case, for example, we want to solve the problem of the lack of proper infrastructure in small settlements, whose residents most often live in private homes. Agrogorodok Kolodischi is one of such items. Recently, the town began to rapidly build up, and the number of its residents is rapidly increasing. At the same time, its infrastructure has practically not developed. Residents are forced to turn to the services of capital companies to find specialists in maintenance and repair of houses, installation of electrical wiring, heating and sanitary equipment, etc. Even garbage disposal is a big problem for them, because The only VES can not serve the whole Minsk district qualitatively.
Therefore, we decided to create an infrastructure center in Kolodischi, which will provide all necessary services – from construction and installation to household. It will function as a cluster. All enterprises that serve agro-towns will be concentrated in one place. The residents of Kolodishch do not have to contact Minsk companies, since they will be able to get the full range of services in this center.
This will be the first complex in Belarus to service the agro-town. The cluster development will be engaged in cluster clustering and management of its infrastructure. The main task of the organization is the cooperation of enterprises that work in this field. For example, a company that installs gas equipment, and the company that serves it, will closely interact and be located in one sector of the complex. Thus, the residents of Kolodishch will not have to search in different places for these companies. Instead, they can come to this center and get all the necessary package of services in one place.
To realize this idea, a new structural unit was created in the incubator – the Center for Cluster Development. Its goal is to promote the development and implementation of cluster initiatives and projects. Also, the center will be engaged in advising those enterprises that want to unite in clusters. Many of our clients are already showing interest in such an association. In this regard, the incubator regularly holds cooperative exchanges, the purpose of which is to establish communication between such enterprises.
Today we set the task of “growing” and placing in the infrastructure center those enterprises that are able to unite into clusters and at the proper quality level to provide all the necessary services to the population of the agrotown.
Sergey Naidovich, General Director of ZAO MAP ZAO
