Co-evolution as a concept developed in the biological sciences to
describe reciprocal changes in interacting species over many generations
(Thompson, 1999). Transferring this idea to change within industrial organizations
has been seen as a promising approach (Lewin et al., 1999). Changes in industries could
be understood as reciprocal adaptation between certain types of actors whose survival
and development are strongly associated with the survival and development of other
associated actors. McKelvey (1997, p. 352) believes it has the power to end the
paradigm war in organizational science because it recognizes that both subjective and
objective realities exist and that both kinds of realities influence organizational
outcomes. It is therefore critical to include both kinds of realities in concepts of cluster
development.