Economias externas e vantagens competitivas dos produtores em sistemas locais de produção: as visões de Marshall, Krugman e Porter

Abstract

Main attention has been given recently to the research on local systems of production, so called industrial clusters. Many of these investigations pointed out the relation between local systems and the competitive advantages of firms, concluding that the competitive advantages of firms emerge from the presence of: (a) the incidental external economies generated by the agglomeration of firms; (b) the greater scope to the establishment and the maintenance of collective joint action among the producer. The aim of this paper is to discuss the contributions of three important authors in this debate, Marshall, Krugman and Porter, in terms of the benefits created by the local incidental externalities, since that they do not consider the possibilities of the joint building of externalities. In this way, it is intended to point the contribuitions of these authors e show the gaps and insufficiencies of their analysis, as well as its implications for the understanding the dynamics of the local system.