Part 1 of Essay
Competitive advantage is not created within a single firm alone. Efficiency in internal operations is essential but not necessarily sufficient to compete globally. Factors external to the business are increasingly important. Each firm is inherently part of a "cluster" of activities made up of firms along the value chain ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... throughout the world that strong clusters ensure sustainable competitive advantage and that this strength has managed to help countries improve drastically on their global competitiveness. One region that is currently developing a very attractive multimedia cluster is San Francisco, California. The cluster is constantly evolving as telecommunications and computer technologies combine in a rapid fashion. Defined broadly, the multimedia cluster is the creators, producers, and distributors of software and hardware ....