RESUMEN:
Habitualmente, los trabajos académicos que han estudiado el efecto distritose han centrado envariables económico-financieras para estimar el valor añadido obtenido por las empresas ubicadas en distritos industriales. Con el objeto de ofrecer un nuevo enfoque de análisis, hemos investigado este efecto introduciendo un conjunto de variables relativasal conocimiento. Para ello, hemos trabajado con una muestra de5,553 empresasinnovadorasvalencianas. En contra de lo esperado, los resultados nohan permitidoconfirmar la existencia de dicho efecto distrito. La discusión de los resultadossugiereatender la influencia de shocks externos al distrito quepuedenestimular a corto plazo la desviación de inversiones industriales hacia sectores de rentabilidades esperadas superiores. ABSTRACT:
Industrial districts have played an important role in the economy of many countries. Considered as a competitive alternative to the crisis of large enterprises that characterized the Fordist paradigm, they took advantage of the inherent benefits of the presence in the territory of a set of externalities or untraded interdependencies that allowed them to successfully face the gradual intensification of international competition.Thus, the literature refers to the district effect as the existence of a number of competitive advantages available to companies belonging to these territorial agglomerations compared to other companies that do not belong. Previous contributions confirm the existence of this effect in certain economic, financial and labor variables of district firms. However, there arefewercontributions that deal with the analysis of the district effect when variables are directly or indirectly related to knowledge and enterprise innovation.
In this case, the different knowledge spillovers belonging to the district represent a prominent externality that leads to an interesting line of analysis focused on this issue. Based on this, our research aims to focus on this type of variables in order to extend the existing debate in the literature about the existence, extent and intensity of the district effect from the knowledge variablesapproach. In addition, as a control measure we have included various economic and financial variables to replicate traditional research and facilitate the contrasting of the results. For the empirical development of this research, we have built from various administrative information sources a database that includes a sample of 5,553 innovative companies located in the region of Valencia (Spain). This region accounts for the 10% of the Spanish GDP and 10.4% of its exports and 11% of total employment. The study period comprises from 2000 to 2006. The companies that were selected are those classified through various indicators as innovative companies sincetheir innovative character is relevant for the development of the research due to their ability to better exploit knowledge spillovers. This is caused because they have greater internal resources that stimulate innovation processes. Firms are SMEs, usually family-owned and cover a wide range of industries such as textiles, footwear, toys, ceramics, food, furniture, electrical machinery, automotive industry, agriculture and tourism.Among other interesting data, the selected companies as a whole account for the 66% of investment in innovation of Valencianfirms, compared to the 33% of large companies. On the other hand, the 39.3% of the firms of the whole sample are related to district configurations, while the remaining 60.7% are external. Oncefirms are identified, it has been considered whether or not they belong to an industrial district, based on the geographical demarcation of industrial districts proposed in relevant previous contributions in the research area. To analyzethe sample it has been defined different types of knowledge variables, such as the generation of codified knowledge, firm relationships with agencies and institutions, human capital, innovation intensity and the type of innovation developed and its promotion. In addition, some control variableshave been defined related to economic and financial issues. Building on the research approach, we start from the assumption that firms belonging to industrial districts benefit from the positive externalities located on the territory. A first global analysis based on growth indicators in different sectors shows that the construction sector and related companies, present better results than other industrial sectors, thus showing the impact on the industry that the growth of this sector has had. This result is relevant for the subsequent approach of the conclusions. Next, the analysis of the knowledge-related variables reported disparate results. On the one hand, non-district firms perform better in terms of staff costs and number of patents and utility models. By contrast, other variables such as investment in innovation, but not intensive in R&D, have better results in companies belonging to the district, while non-district firms invest more in contracts with local universities or R&D projects.In short, different behavior patterns are observed in the use of knowledge resources.District firms present a profile more linked to regional institutions, such as institutes of technology, and a less complex innovation, barely patented, and in some cases basing their protection on utility models. Meanwhile, non-district firms are more likely to interact with other knowledge sources as the university, develop greater R&D and patent protection.Additionally, economic and financial variables are analyzed in order to compare the results with major research on the district effect. Most variables showed significant differences in favor of firms belonging to an industrial district. However, in some variables that are of great interest such as financial performance or annual growth rate of sales, the values show differences in favor of the non- district firms. In terms of technological intensity, district firms produce products of medium or low technological levels, while non-district firms show a greater presence in the high-tech industry, mainly for the market of goods and services. This is partly logical since the major population areas of the Valencian region concentrate most of the regional knowledge resources. To conclude, it should be noted that some differences between both groups of firms are observed, but the results do not clearly confirm the existence of the district effect.In this regard, it is noteworthy that non-district firms have achieved better economic resultsin the period considered, making it difficult to sustain the presence of the district effect.On the other hand, the results may diverge from previous contributions. Some possible causes are: first, knowledge resources such as universities are mostly located in metropolitan areas that are not part of the industrial districts, except for example the case of ceramics in Castellón. Second, the industries located in districts are mainly low- and medium-tech manufactures, so they develop innovations with low R&D investment. Third, it is important to consider the period analyzed and the evolutionary behavior of firms. The entry of Spain into the Eurozone and the sharp reduction in mortgage interest rates were a stimulus for the development of the construction sector and a reorientation ofpart of the international businessestowardsdomestic markets related to real estate sector. In short, this suggests addressing the influence of external shocks to the district that can stimulate the diversion of industrial investment to sectors with higher expected returns in a short time space, as happened in the case studied. There remain for future contributions theresearch on the influence of exogenous and endogenous changes in the district effect and deepen the cognitive limits of the territory that the district covers, and, in particular, of the contextual knowledge that supports part of its strength. Classification-JEL: R1 Keywords: Distritos industriales, Efecto distrito, Spillovers de conocimiento, Empresas innovadoras, Industrial district, District effect, Knowledge spillovers, Innovative firms Pages: 189-216 Volume: 3 Year: 2014 File-URL: http://www.revistaestudiosregionales.com/documentos/articulos/pdf-articulo-2454.pdf File-Format: Application/pdf Handle: RePEc:rer:articu:v:3:y:2014:p:189-216