Interacção entre Redes Organizacionais Locais

Abstract

This article analyses two local organizational networks in the Portuguese footwear sector. An organizational network is a set of organizations that develop inter- organizational relationships among them. lt is possible to study these relationships at different levels of analysis: micro, meso and macro. This article adopts the meso level of analysis and studies two networks that are delimited by a geographic criterion. These two local networks are the main agglomerations of footwear production in Portugal. The article explains how these two local networks - one in Felgueiras and another one in São João da Madeira - interact between each other and how they contribute to develop competitiveness. The data for the empirical study were collected from documents and interviews. The results show that there are clear competitive differences between the Felgueiras' network and the São João da Madeira's network regarding their type of firms, products and markets. These competitive differences explain how the two networks interact in the following activities: technology, production, training, marketing and internationalization.