Method of identification of industry clusters in Québec based on input-output tables

Over the past year, the ISQ analyzed trade links among Québec industries. The purpose of this study was to identify similar buying and selling profiles in the different industry sectors in order to allow economic development agents to establish specific intervention strategies and policies for Québec.

The identification of the industry clusters was based on the data contained in the input-output tables for Québec for 2000, while the mapping of the clusters was based on the data in the ISQ’s “banque des entreprises du Québec” (BEQ) for 2003.

Resulting from a research collaboration with Industry Canada (province of Québec), this study outlines the different approaches developed in the literature review and proposes an original methodology, the “hybrid approach,” consisting of principal components analysis and cluster analysis; it also analyzes the results obtained and presents a geographic distribution of the clusters identified.