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Industrial clusters have been considered a successful form of firms’ organisation, and an instrument for increasing the competitiveness and growth of the region and firms’ performance (Aranguren et al., 2013; Abdesslem & Chiappini, 2016; Stojčić et al., 2019; Pecze, 2019). The idea behind cluster formation and its promotion is that firms benefit from agglomeration effects due to knowledge and technology spillovers, input and output sharing, and location externalities (Maffioli et al., 2016). Cluster organisations should facilitate collaboration among firms, scientific and public actors, networking, inter-firm linkages, sharing of information, resources, and knowledge to build new growth opportunities, and overcome coordination failures (Maffioli et al., 2016). Past research has examined the impact of clusters on firm performance in various industries and the wood industry as well, indicating that cluster membership has a positive impact on firms’ survival, innovation activities and performance – exports, productivity, and sales (e.g., Strøjer et al., 2003; Tödtling & Trippl, 2004; Wennberg & Lindqvist, 2008; Eisingerich et al., 2010; Abdesslem & Chiappini, 2016; Stojčić et al., 2019).

During recent decades, with the rise of worldwide competition and globalization, the noteworthiness of recruiting and retaining qualified employees has become an important factor in the success of the education industry (Gong et al., 2018). In other words, managing human resources plays a crucial role in increasing the sustainable competitive advantages of a higher education institute. Such a role is more profound in the education industry due to the direct effect of human resources, which consist of academics, on customers, who are students. Although recruiting highly talented academics is a challenging issue for human resource managers, retaining them within the organization, in the long term, requires high efforts and intention as well. It is quite clear that progress in science and technology improves the human being’s quality of life. Developing knowledge is the main purpose of the higher education system, which will be fulfilled by educating capable scientists. Academics and scholars are responsible for accomplishing this main goal of the higher education systém in universities. Iran is one of the countries which plays an active role in contributing to universal knowledge and technology (Naderi & Safarzade, 2014).

Design is an important factor that contributes to the business success thanks to its potential to strengthen their competitiveness (D’Ippolito, 2014). There is a correlation between the use of design and business performance and subsequent macroeconomic growth (Denmark National Agency for Enterprise and Housing, 2003). An example of an economy significantly influenced by design is Great Britain’s economy. Design Economy created a gross value added of 85.2 billion GBP in the United Kingdom in 2016, corresponding to 7% of British gross value added. In a longterm perspective, between 2009 and 2016 the economy influenced by design grew by 52% and expanded far beyond fields that are part of creative industries (Benton et al., 2018). Design is a specific subtype of Innovation (OECD/Eurostat, 2018); it is an important business factor and it is integrated into many aspects of production and deliveries of products. The use of design helps companies to innovate, it increases companies’ productivity and turnover (Benton et al., 2018).

Towards the end of the 1980s, all the countries of the former socialist bloc had to wrestle with structural and systemic problems. At the moment of entering the period of transformations, Poland and Czechoslovakia were characterized by different conditions, among others, GDP per capita, the range of macroeconomic imbalance, inflation rate, indebtedness, or the share of the private sector. In Poland, private ownership dominated in agriculture, while in trade and service its share was significant. On the other hand, as regards Czechoslovakia, private ownership was scarce. The 1990s saw far-reaching systemic changes going on both in Poland and Czechoslovakia (and following the split of the latter – the Czech Republic). Privatization of enterprises was the fundamental part of the economic reforms program implemented in both countries. The introduction of free market principles, the influx of foreign investment and restructuring actions, undoubtedly influenced the change in the way enterprises functioned in the market. At present, small and mediumsized enterprises are of the key importance to the economic development of Poland and the Czech Republic.

For the last years, global competition has strengthened the significance of a company’s ability to introduce new products, while responding to increasingly dynamic markets with customers rapidly changing needs, and thus claiming for shortening the time required to design, develop and manufacture, as well as for cost reduction, increased reliability, quality improvement and sustainability. In this context, firms are implementing a wide variety of different techniques, management processes and development strategies in their quest for shorter development cycles and permanent business alignment with the market requirements (Cunha & Putnik, 2006).

Competitive environments exist or can be created for a majority of human activities. This is true because human activity can usually be performed by more than one subject, and to incite subjects to being competitive, it suffices to compare results of their activity on the basis of selected criteria or features which characterize these results.