The aim of this paper is to propose an econometric application in order to detect the factors that affect the size and the performance of local clusters of small and medium firms (SMEs) such as industrial districts. Our purpose is to extend some basic issues of models in economic geography in order to account for further micro components that seem fostering the rise and performances of local clusters. We succeed in stating that, in addition to the home market effect and transport costs, firms belonging to industrial districts improve their competitiveness by exploiting some assets, such those involved by ad-hoc services, generated inside the district by the co-operation among firms. Moreover looking for fixed effects in the study of firms' competitiveness allows us to determine that sectorial differences do not affect substantially the behavior and performance of SMEs. Copyright 2001 by Kluwer Academic Publishers
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.
Volume (Year): 17 (2001) Issue (Month): 3 (November) Pages: 185-95 Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML
(with abstract),
plain text
(with abstract),
BibTeX,
RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite),
ReDIF
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Christopher F. Baum).
Related research
Keywords:
Cited by: (explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)