Governing cluster development path: evidence on critical success factors from the Demarcated Douro Region

Research on Critical Success Factors (CSFs) and cluster life cycles (CLCs) suggests that the drivers of competitiveness change as clusters evolve. Yet the literature still offers limited systematisation of stage-related CSFs, little empirical evidence on how business actors prioritize them in practice, and insufficient attention to sector-specific pressures that may reshape cluster development. This article addresses these gaps by systematising stage-related CSFs into a four-domain framework, testing these expectations empirically in the Demarcated Douro Region (DDR), and identifying industry-specific CSFs that complement generic life-cycle classifications. The DDR provides a relevant case as a mature wine cluster combining Port wine, Douro still wines, and tourism. Drawing on 12 semi-structured interviews analysed through deductive and inductive coding, the study finds that perceived competitiveness depends less on inherited territorial assets alone than on governance and coordination capacity, particularly public policies and regulation, institutional effectiveness, human capital, physical infrastructure, and cooperation/coopetition. It also shows that industry-specific pressures – especially climate change and water scarcity, high production costs, and regulatory constraints – re-weight the salience of generic CSFs. The study offers actionable implications for cluster organizations and regional policymakers.