1. Internationalization and the power of the cluster cooperation
Genoveva Christova – Murray
President
Bulgarian Furniture Cluster

2. 2001 – PHARE and GTZ IT
Wood & Furniture
Rose Oil
Wine IT

3. 2005 – 2006 PHARE I

4. 2007 – 2008 PHARE II ICT Mechatronics IT Maritime Energy Tourism
Wood & Furniture
Lasers and Optics
Apparel
ICT
Mechatronics
Maritime
Energy
Tourism

5. Main conclusions Huge interest due to the financial support
Project based clusters, no sustainability
Intensive financial support
National cluster strategy – project based
Lack of sustainable approach and continues actions outside the programmes’ framework
Lack of capacity in the responsible state institutions

6. Current situation
2007 – Huge interest, but mainly to access the cluster grants, more than 60 clusters in Bulgaria within the last call for proposals, not related to the strategic priorities or to the competitive industries in the country
Establishment of ABC – 18 members, among them 5 bronze labels –
New leaders and clusterpreneurs

7. 2. Bulgarian Furniture Cluster – a success story in spite of the national cluster policy, or …. lack of it!

8. Why in cluster? How to stay competitive in increasing competition?
DESIGN
STUDIOS
UNIVERSITIES
NGOs
How to stay competitive in increasing competition?
How to keep pace with Europe?
How to be noticed when coming from a small country?
FURNITURE MANUFACTURERS
FURNITURE
MANUFACTURERS

9. CLUSTER’S LOCATION

10. What are we doing?

11. Main cluster activity Joint orders – LIGNA GROUP Ltd
Joint Marketing Activities - examples:
The Sleep Event London 2010 & 2011
Milano Design Week 2011 (via Tortona)
imm Cologne 2011
HI Design Valencia 2013
Baku build, Azerbaijan October 2013
Trade missions (b2b) – Holzcluster Austria; The Chair Triangle in Italy

12. FURNITURE INDUSTRY Segmentation
Markets
Products
Hotels
Contract furniture
Re-manufacturing
Аny furniture product that is sold on a large scale
used for commercial purposes
not meant for residential purpose
Low attractiveness
High competition
Low profit

13. RESULTS: 2007 - 2013 6 890 hotel rooms in Europe
Preferred supplier for 2 Hotel Groups in Germany

14. RESULTS: 2007 - 2013 2300 CITROEN showrooms in France
1520 finished from Dec 2011 till Aug 2013

15. Success Factors No EU funding
The neutral position of the leading company
Starting as an Export Consortia, now a Cluster with a serious Action Plan
Early wins in Market Development
The Cluster has dispelled the myth that Companies in the same Sector or in the same City will not co-operate. In fact in a Recession they will co-operate more!
The Cluster is simple – it “makes people think in one direction”!

16. Let's get CLUSTERING !