Abstract

This study examines marketing cooperation between firms co-localized in an agribusiness cluster, using the proximity perspective developed in economic geography. After a review of the relevant literature, we develop a scale to measure both interfirm marketing cooperation and different dimensions of proximity (cognitive, geographical, institutional, organizational and social), and test the interrelationships among these elements within the context of Chile, an emerging economy. The findings support the conclusion that interfirm marketing cooperation in the chosen agribusiness cluster is mainly dependent on social proximity. Moreover, contrary to what is found in the literature on other types of cooperation, geographical proximity is not particularly relevant.

Introduction

Research on the role of geographic proximity between firms has grown exponentially over the last decades. Countless studies have notably discussed its role in explaining the intensity of trade flows, technological innovation and competitiveness. One of the main reasons for this interest is that geographic proximity facilitates knowledge spillovers. In what would eventually become known as the Marshall–Arrow–Romer approach, economic studies as early as the turn of the 20th century note that spillovers occur when employees from different firms in an industry exchange ideas about new products and new ways to produce goods (Glaeser, Kallal, Scheinkman, & Shleifer, 1992; Marshall, 1890). Recent research on industrial clusters emphasizes the role of knowledge spillovers in innovation and their contribution to the competitiveness of specialized and geographically-concentrated industries (Guilani, 2007; Ketelhohn, 2006; McCann, 2008). However, the benefits from colocalization derived by firms should have greatly diminished with the advent of the Internet and related information and communication technologies—the cumulative effect of which was heralded as the “death of distance.” Fifteen years later, clusters of co-localized companies continue to exist, and proximity still matters even though knowledge spillovers can occur at a distance. Why is that?