The Clustering of Cork Firms in Santa Maria da Feira: Why History Matters

This paper studies the reasons why mostPortuguese cork manufacturing firms are concentratedin Santa Maria da Feira, a small municipality in thenorth of the country, whereas the bulk of the cork isproduced in the south (Alentejo and Ribatejo). It startswith a brief introductory discussion of the advantagesand limitations of clusters and industrial districts,together with an illustration of the recent theoreticalfindings of evolutionary economic geography. Next, acomparative analysis is made of the economicperformance over the last decade of firms located inSanta Maria da Feira and other regions, leading to apowerful conclusion that points to the absence of anyclear advantages for clustered firms. Finally, an attemptis made to discover the historical and socio-politicalreasons why so many cork firms are concentrated inSanta Maria da Feira. These are shown to beindispensable for understanding and substantiating thebusiness location decisions of most Portuguese corkentrepreneurs.