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This paper aims to address research gaps with regard to the relationship between market orientation and marketing performance when small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are located within a service cluster. The three main objectives of this research are to determine the effect that the cluster can have on both the market orientation of clustered companies and their marketing performance and to furthermore evaluate the effect of the market orientation of companies in the cluster on their marketing performance.

This research used executive-level data that were obtained by carrying out a survey involving a unique dataset of 133 Colombian health-related businesses located in the city of Cali (Colombia) in 2014. A system of equations was modeled using SMART PLS. This analysis was complemented by a qualitative study that involved conducting in-depth interviews in six companies.

The results showed that, among the SMEs, membership in an urban services cluster did not significantly influence marketing performance or the implementation of marketing orientation practices. No differences were observed in internal managerial practices implemented between companies that were co-located and isolated. However, a higher level of competitor orientation was associated with greater marketing performance. Given the verified absence of moderating and mediating effects, our work provides a reasonable basis for proposing future research and practical recommendations.

While research has demonstrated the relationship between a company's market orientation and marketing performance, this type of analysis has not been carried out on service SMEs in geographic concentrations or clusters.

本文旨在處理涉及市場導向與營銷績效間的關係的研究缺口. 當中小型企業處於服務群集內, 市場導向與其營銷績效間存在相互關係；本文旨在處理涉及這關係的研究缺口. 本研究有以下的主要目標：（1）找出群集對群集公司的市場導向及其營銷績效兩者的影響；（2）繼而評估在群集內公司的市場導向對其營銷績效的影響.

本研究使用透過進行一項調查而取得的管理階層數據，而這調查涉及於2014年位於卡利市（哥倫比亞）133間與健康衛生有關的哥倫比亞企業的獨特資料集。一個方程式體系透過使用SmartPLS被模擬出來. 這分析有個補充輔助，就是一個涉及在六間公司內進行的深層訪談的質性研究.

研究結果顯示，就有關的中小型企業而言，擁有城市服務群集身份並沒顯著地影響營銷績效或市場導向慣常做法的施行。對處於同一地點的公司，抑或是隔離的公司，其內部施行的管理慣常做法並沒觀察到有所不同。但是，高水平的競爭者導向與更佳的營銷績效兩者是相關的。考慮到調節及仲介效果被證實不存在，我們的研究為日後研究及實際建議的提出提供合理的基礎.

從前的研究證實了公司的市場導向與營銷績效是相關的，唯這類研究分析從來沒有在地理集中或群集內的服務中小型企業上進行過.

This paper aims to shed light on the mechanisms that connect dynamic capabilities and organizational knowledge in the innovative process to offer a new theoretical and practical solution considering the microfoundations of knowledge management strategies.

This research has emerged from an in-depth case study of an effective innovation (from just ethanol and sugar-production to an effective biomass plant). The study represents an “inductive inquiry,” useful to understand specific “organizational mechanisms” of innovation, where the main data came from in-depth interviews with 18 key actors. It proved to help search the development of a specific biomass plant, designed and implemented between 2000 and 2007 in a Brazilian ethanol and sugar-production large company, referred to here as “Energyplant.”

This solution provides a new perspective based on the idea that dynamic capabilities are context-dependent and presents an original typological map that shows and materializes dynamic capabilities as teams of human-based resources. Managerial implications can be drawn from the capabilities typological map highlighting that, although identical dynamic capabilities are not required to change different firms, idiosyncratic dynamic capabilities perform universal knowledge functions that can be mapped, contributing to the planning of a specific innovation.

While the dynamic capabilities research has been seen as one of the most vibrant topics in strategic management, scholars have recently stressed that dynamic capabilities continue to be underrated because the knowledge mechanisms that lead to effective innovations have not been adequately explored. The visual mapping is then applied to solve the reviewed theoretical problems, being also suggested to firms interested in change and adapting their capabilities to the requirements of the business environment.

This paper aims to explore the relationship between clustering and hotel competitiveness in emerging economy destinations by analyzing potential mediation of the management innovations implemented.

This empirical study is based on hotel-level information from a survey including 131 hotels in 2014. Colombia was chosen as a representative of Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa (CIVETS) emerging destinations. The relationships were analyzed by structural modeling and partial least squares.

Clustering has a positive direct impact on hotel competitiveness and innovation, and there is a positive effect of innovation on competitiveness. Therefore, the link between clustering and competitiveness is partially mediated through implementation of management innovations.

Hotels should actively participate in agglomerated destinations and build relationships with established firms by clustering. Interaction with related firms and implementation of management innovations will lead to increased levels of economic competitiveness. Public policymakers should foster collaborative strategic networking in the hospitality industry of emerging economy destinations.

This paper focused on separating the direct and indirect effects of clustering on hotel competitiveness. Implementation of management innovations was considered as an outcome derived from clustering in emerging tourist destinations, using the example of Colombia. Clustering stimulates and eases management innovations within the location, and that combination reinforces the role that cooperating while competing plays in hotel competitiveness for destinations with lagging innovation.

This paper aims to analyse which firm-level characteristics drive their location decisions when investing in a foreign country. Focusing on origin clusters, the authors will study the potential influence of the home country context and, in particular, the impact of firm-level factors, both investor- and investment-related, underlying heterogeneity in their location choice decisions.

The empirical analysis draws on data gathered from mainland Chinese MNEs that have invested in Germany between 2005 and 2013 (269 firms). The authors chose a single host (Germany) and a single home (China) country for their representativeness and for methodological reasons to control for country effects. The authors used a multinomial logit model to assess the effects of the independent variables on the probability that each of the three location possibilities would be selected.

The results suggest that investors preferring co-location in origin clusters have distinct structural and strategic characteristics. From a more structural point of view, Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) undertaken by smaller firms and those without prior experience in the EU prefer an area where there are other Chinese investors. From a more strategic perspective, these FDI flows are more likely to tap into industry agglomerations when the investors’ objective is strategic asset seeking, and they have less knowledge-intensive investments.

The findings may be of great practical value to practitioners and policymakers. Knowledge of the advantages and disadvantages of the types of agglomeration networks can help managers to balance the rewards and risks in their decision-making and to select a suitable development path for their FDIs. For policymakers, an understanding of the structure and formation of different groups of firms in one location and the characteristics of investors who may enter the location can help them to improve their regulatory work and to develop policies to attract investments, thereby enhancing local economic development and community stability.

The research shifts the emphasis of the location choice decision beyond just where to locate toward with whom to collocate. It also contributes to the growing research on emerging market multinationals by providing further insight into understanding of FDI location behavior by firms from emerging economies.

Purpose – To analyse the contribution of firm structure (size, clustering and foreign ownership) and strategy (subsector specialization) to the financial performance Return On Assets [ROA] of almost 10,000 European textile-clothing firms.

Methodology/approach – A panel regression analysis is conducted for five European countries that are representative of a Southern European model of clustered Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) specialized in low-value-added products (Spain, Italy and Portugal) and of a Northern European model of large vertically integrated firms specialized in high-value-added products (France and Germany) in 2002–2009.

Findings – The Northern European model has generated better financial performance than the Southern European model due to the joint role of its structure (large size) and strategy (specialization). Nevertheless, we find a positive effect of clustering in the Southern European model.

Research limitations – Clusters were defined at the NUTS II level instead of the NUTS III level. The coefficient of specialization was calculated for the pre-liberalization average.

Practical implications – Explaining the different levels of competitiveness shown by the same territorial organizational model in an industry.

Originality/value of the chapter – Work that has studied the behaviour of the firms within this territory-industry relationship is still scarce. Given that the viability of clusters and of European manufacturing have been put into question, our work evidences that the efficacy of the decisions related to the firm's structure and strategy needs to be tested jointly so that the way in which the firm addresses environmental changes can be appraised.

This paper aims to analyse the impact of globalization on the manufacturing operations of industries and industrial districts and how it influences the specialization and diversification of manufacturing decisions.

The sample includes 9,684 Spanish manufacturing textile firms and the analysis is both cross‐sectional and longitudinal.

The results show that globalization tends to diminish the district and subsector effects over time, but they also show the positive impact of specialization on productivity and of diversification on business growth.

The paper indicates to managers that the production function in textile firms has viability in Europe through achieving specialization and efficient operations management.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the contribution of location (geographical concentration) and firm structure (age and subsector) to the risk of business failure.

The Markov's regression analysis was made for a sample of over 11,700 Spanish textile‐clothing firms.

The results obtained from the analysis suggest that the risk of business failure is increased by some risk factors relative to the structural characteristics of the firms (younger firms and specialization in low‐tech activities), and under determined locational circumstances.

Our conclusions have been obtained starting from a sample of manufacturing firms in the Spanish textile sector. An extension of this work would be to test its robustness in other countries (for example, Italy or Portugal) and/or for other industries such as footwear and furniture.

Explaining the different levels of risk business failure shown by firms in an industry.

Work that has studied the failure of the textile firms within this location‐subsector relationship is still scarce. Given that the viability of clusters and of European textile have been put into question, our work evidences that the risk of failure related to the firm's location and structure needs to be tested jointly, so that the way in which the firm addresses environmental changes can be appraised.

This study aims to explore how the fact of belonging to clusters of dissimilar form or characteristics modify the application of human resource management (HRM) practices, as well as those knowledge-sharing processes that guide and encourage the intrapreneurial behavior of employees (IPB) in firms belonging to the cluster. The main thesis is that the application of HRM practices and some knowledge management processes are strongly conditioned by the form or characteristics of the cluster, all this in a knowledge-intensive context that requires a contingent application of such practices.

The research strategy chosen was a qualitative case study, given that the insight the authors were seeking could only be obtained through a fine-grained analysis inside the firm where it is very difficult to decouple the phenomenon to be observed from the context where it takes place. Two cases were selected to analyze the phenomenon in-depth and compare their results; they were big and technologically advanced firms but belonging to clusters of different forms and characteristics.

Results show that the influence of the cluster based on location is greater than the effects of the cluster formed by networks, where globalization and external ties play an important role. HRM practices and knowledge sharing processes that lead to intrapreneurial behavior are conditioned, only in part, by the characteristics of the cluster. Particularly, the geographical cluster encourages knowledge sharing with competitors and customers, mainly for technical training processes and because of belonging to a sectoral association. However, HRM practices, with the exception of training and compensation policies, are mainly conditioned by the company's culture and internal factors, rather than by belonging to a specific cluster.

Firms belonging to an organized cluster should encourage the development of practical training-oriented programs, not only on technical aspects but also on other skill and competence-based areas. In addition, training based on strategic issues both for top and middle managers could be an interesting initiative. Additionally, clustered firms should develop more knowledge-retention policies to limit the degree of rivalry in the sector, as it is very common for a firm to search for new and specialized talent in the rest of competing firms in the cluster.

Considering the economic impact of the geographical cluster, its effect on the employment and development of a region and taking into account the relevant and dynamic role of research institutions and associations, policymakers should support and facilitate the activity of those institutions, reinforcing the relevance of industrial districts or geographical clusters that are threatened by the pressures of globalization.

This study brings new insight into the effect of the form and characteristics of the cluster on HRM practices and knowledge sharing processes that lead to intrapreneurial behavior. The study may open the field for additional studies that, from a qualitative and quantitative perspective, analyze this topic in depth. The paper shows that IPB depends not only on the support of the institutions created in the cluster but also on the culture and competitive strategy of the company. Belonging to a geographical cluster can have an influence on firms’ behavior and can, through the trust generated among its members, facilitate knowledge-sharing processes and intrapreneurial behavior.