Abstract

CARPIO, Sofía. Cooperation between firms and regional development: a review. Retos [online]. 2020, vol.10, n.19, pp.117-133. ISSN 1390-8618.  https://doi.org/10.17163/ret.n19.2020.07.

The study of cooperation between firms within the field of economic development has a longstanding tradition, particularly in regional development. The present work seeks to carry out a review of the literature concerned with the role firm cooperation plays in regional development. The review includes works that analyze empirical cases and aim to identify the elements that explain why in some cases inter-firm cooperation 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 that enable repeated interactions between firms to take place, the need for governance mechanisms to enforce cooperation between firms and to 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 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 the building of trust and reciprocity in firm relations; and 4) the impact of external factors on inter-firm cooperation, rendering these relations dynamic.

Keywords : Interfirm cooperation; regional development; industrial districts; clusters; industrial organization.

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