The effect of clusters on the development of the software industry in Dalian, China

The trend toward globalization has not only facilitated the circulation of capital, technology, and talent, but has also provided industries in developing countries with an opportunity for rapid development. This study uses the system dynamics methodology to construct a dynamic development model to explain the phenomenon of clustering in the Dalian, China software industry. The results indicate that the rapid development of the Dalian software industry is the result of a growth effect generated primarily from the clustering of talent, technology, and capital and their mutual reinforcement. This study also discusses future bottlenecks to growth in the Dalian software industry that may result from limited environmental resources. ► Industrial clusters and system dynamics methodology. ► Analysis of the software industry cluster in China. ► Dynamic model construction.