Advanced forestry countries have promoted forestry clusters to strengthen their competitiveness in the various fields. However, for the same purpose, Korea does not have introduced the cluster policy to the forestry fields yet, and has focused on supplying more facilities without reflecting regional distinctions. This study aims to reveal problems in the forestry based on regions and forest products, analyze their potential abilities, and finally propose strategies for developing forestry clusters.
Generally, the formations and emergences of the clusters are carried through several processes such as a geographical proximity, a specialized area, a industrial district, a collective learning milieu, and a innovation milieu. Based on this method, the results of analysis show that the dwarfed plants and the garden trees stay on the geographical proximity, non-timber forest product fields(such as chestnuts, oak mushrooms, and wild vegetables) stay on the early or developing industrial district. Lumber industries are also on the stage of the early industrial district.
The study indicates that, considering our current circumstances, we need to make the forestry clusters be distinguished from the agricultural industrial clusters, and to develop them from non-timber forest products to the others step by step. Moreover, in the development of forestry clusters, we can not help considering the three issues of differences, specialities, and potential innovations distinguished from policies of the industrial cluster in agriculture. As a result, we selected five potential regions for developing forestry clusters of non-timber forest products based on economies of scale and collaborative partnerships. Also, we defined these clusters as forestry complex clusters which consist of various crops, and we proposed strategies for constructing collaborative networks, developing functional products, supporting enterprises related to forestry food, and connecting to local prosperities.