Local Business Networks, Clusters and Business Ecosystems. Factors of Influence on Firms Competitiveness in Global Markets

The purpose of this Book is to examine the competitive conditions of firms belonging to local economic systems, considering that although globalization processes should lead to reduce the importance of local systems, firms belonging to clusters and industrial districts continue to demonstrate higher competitiveness than those that are not part of local systems. For interpreting this issue, an empirical research has been conducted after having considered the extant literature on local systems, about which a specific attention was paid to the Business Ecosystem approach. According to this perspective, the research has been carried out on the wine and mechanical industries, with the objective of identifying the factors of competitiveness for firms. The results allow to draw a conceptual model that links the factors analyzed with a series of key issues on local systems. The model proposed provides indications for economic policies, for strategic decisions of companies, and for further research on the competitiveness of local systems.