The performance of our economy—its prosperity, disparity, and sustainability—is determined by the competitiveness of our region’s industries. When grouped together, these companies, suppliers, and supporting economic institutions are considered "industry clusters." An industry cluster is any group of firms in the same or similar business that represents a significant portion of the regional economy and earns revenue from outside the region. The region earns its living from the performance of these clusters. Some of these clusters and their employment status in our region are listed in the chart below. The data compiled was captured from Allegan, Calhoun, Kalamazoo, and Van Buren counties. As our efforts become more regional, we hope to collect data from the entire nine county region for next year’s annual report.