Global hierarchy of maritime clusters: Stability and reconstruction

In contrast to traditional research that is limited to individual maritime clusters, a holistic perspective is employed in this study to investigate the global hierarchy of maritime clusters. To conceptualize the global hierarchical stability of maritime clusters, Porter's diamond model is used to develop a general analytical framework and both empirical and theoretical analyses are conducted. The results of empirical analyses indicate that the global hierarchy of maritime clusters tends to remain stable. And the following conceptual discussions attribute such stability to historical effects, weakening prerequisite effects, and game effects. Further theoretical analysis reveals that governance restructuring, a novel innovation type, can disrupt the global hierarchical stability of maritime clusters and facilitate the leapfrog development of emerging maritime clusters.