Abstract
This research examines factors that influence the development of marketing cooperation among cluster-based firms in different regions in the world. Theorists have consistently demonstrated the role and importance of economic externalities, such as knowledge spillovers, within industrial clusters. Less research attention has been paid to the investigation of marketing-based externalities, though it has been suggested that these may also accrue from geographical agglomeration. The study focus is on the development of joint marketing activities between firms operating in a single industry sector, located in close proximity. The results suggest that social networking is important in facilitating inter-firm cooperation in marketing activities. The study also explores whether the levels of inter-firm cooperation differs between countries with distinctly different levels of social collectivism. Interestingly, this study finds few significant differences in marketing cooperation among cluster-based firms from Scotland and Chile.
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Acknowledgements
This study was funded by Conicyt–Research Council Chile (Fondecyt grant 7080097 and PBCT–SOC 30) and the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland. The authors thank two anonymous reviewers and the Editor, Professor Hamid Etemad, for their useful comments provided in earlier versions of this paper.
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Felzensztein, C., Gimmon, E. Social networks and marketing cooperation in entrepreneurial clusters: An international comparative study. J Int Entrep 7, 281–291 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10843-009-0041-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10843-009-0041-2