Cooperation between firms and regional development: a review
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Abstract
The study of cooperation between firms within the field of economic development has a longstanding tradition in the field of regional development. The present work seeks to carry out a review of the literature concerned with the role of firm cooperation in regional development. The review includes works that review empirical cases and seek to identify the elements that explain why in some cases cooperation between firms is successful while in others, it is not the observed outcome. The dimensions of cooperation emphasized in the surveyed works share various similarities: the conditions in regional agglomerations from which repeated interactions between firms occur, the need for governance mechanisms to enforce cooperation among the firms and prevent opportunistic behavior from arising, the institutionalization of cooperation, the impact external factors have on the continuation of cooperation between firms. An emphasis in the literature on the learning, knowledge-diffusion and innovation processes was identified. In the concluding remarks, the role of cooperation between firms in the regional development literature was summarized in four main dimensions: 1) the industrial organization of industrial districts, clusters and regions; 2) the balance between cooperation and competition; 3) governance mechanisms and trust and reciprocity building in firm relations; and 4) the impact of external factors on firms cooperation, rendering these relations dynamic.
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