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In recent years, we have observed an increasing interest of the European Union and its selected member states in the new type of economic policy that is based on the concept of the clusters. Clusters are specialized groups of mutually competitive, but also cooperating, enterprises - they are the key to generating and maintaining competitive advantage. The crucial cluster element is the geographically concentrated group of companies engaged in identical business. The concentration of enterprises increases their mutual competitiveness on the market. Simultaneously, the fact that they act in a group causes some external factors to arise that are beneficial to all; for instance, a greater flow of innovative human resources, so necessary for the efficiency of the manufacturing process. Clusters form a new approach to the competition of competing companies that is becoming increasingly popular. Lately, we have been witnessing intensive expansion of this form of companies' functioning in the metallurgical industry. Literature and government statistics have made it possible to ascertain that Polish metallurgy makes up a significant element of national economy and there are premises for the emergence of relevant cluster structures. Metallurgical clusters tend to function as industrial (network) districts and are aware of the benefits of participating in the said cluster structure.

Keywords: clusters, small and middle sized companies, metallurgy, industrial district

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