Page 133 - Biorefinery 2030 Future Prospects for the Bioeconomy (2015)

5
General Conclusion

At the end of this study of the history, business model, synergy and industrial
symbiosis of the Bazancourt-Pomacle biorefinery together with its future prospects,
the reader might well ask: what, then, is the true nature of this biorefinery? This
conclusion will attempt to answer this question and to propose avenues for future
action by different actors, beyond those suggested in this study.

1 What Is the True Nature of the Bazancourt-Pomacle
Integrated Biorefinery?

We will define the nature of the biorefinery as an industrial district and via its
economic rationale and ecosystem.

1.1 Integrated Biorefinery and Industrial District

According to Alfred Marshall (1920), an industrial district is characterised by the
simultaneous presence of a variety of subcontractors, an abundance of skilled
labour, and a network of rapid formal and informal communication between its
members. These elements provide an industrial district with its competitive advan-
tage. In this conception, vertical aspects of integration within a sector are dominant,
whence the emphasis on subcontracting, which is not a central aspect in the case of
Bazancourt-Pomacle.
More recently, Michael Porter (2000) theorised the notion of industrial cluster, a
group of firms in the same location that combines aspects of both horizontal
integration (proximity) and vertical integration, centred on a single sector. Porter
defines an industrial cluster as a group of companies and active institutions in a
particular field of activity, which are geographically close and linked by their
similarities and complementarity.

# Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015 101
P.-A. Schieb et al., Biorefinery 2030, DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-47374-0_5