Resumen de The Regional Firm Density and the Growth of Firms in the Portuguese Textile and Clothing Industry

Rolando Vaz

• English

  This paper focuses on the relationship between the regional firm density and the growth of firms in the Portuguese textile and clothing industry to investigate how their geographic clustering influences said growth. Despite the concentration of this industry in the Northern region of Portugal in only four poles, our results show that the location of firms in the cluster is not relevant for growth when the whole industry is considered. However, disaggregate analysis shows that the clothing industry does exhibit both location externalities and cross-location effect, while textile manufacture exhibits neither. In addition, our empirical evidence reveals that the growth of firms located in the cluster is positively correlated with external finance. This result suggests that location becomes a solvency signal for firms, and, specifically, this might help to explain why textile manufacturers firms are located in the cluster. These findings are relevant for entrepreneurs and Portuguese policymakers, as it jeopardizes the optimal allocation of scarce resources in the Portuguese textile cluster.

• galego

  Este traballo céntrase na relación entre a densidade rexional de empresas e o crecemento das empresas da industria téxtil e da confección portuguesa para investigar como inflúe a súa agrupación xeográfica no devandito crecemento. A pesar da concentración desta industria na rexión Norte de Portugal en só catro polos, os nosos resultados mostran que a localización das empresas no clúster non é relevante para o crecemento cando se considera a industria no seu conxunto. Con todo, a análise desagregado mostra que a industria da confección si presenta tanto externalidades de localización como efecto de localización cruzada, mentres que a fabricación téxtil non presenta ningún dos dous. Ademais, os nosos datos empíricos revelan que o crecemento das empresas situadas no clúster está positivamente correlacionado co financiamento externo. Este resultado suxire que a localización se converte nun sinal de solvencia para as empresas e, en concreto, isto podería axudar a explicar por que as empresas de fabricación téxtil localízanse no clúster. Estes resultados son relevantes para os empresarios e os responsables políticos portugueses, xa que pon en perigo a asignación óptima dos escasos recursos no clúster téxtil portugués.

  Palabras chave: Financiamento.