ABSTRACT
The role of localization for manufacturing firms has been studied since Alfred Marshall. According to Marshall (1890), the organization of an industry around an area of geographical agglomeration could bring certain advantages to firms located in that area, to which outsider firms would not have access. Those advantages would stem from three main factors: a pool of skilled labor, infrastructures, and entrepreneurship. In turn, the advantages obtained by agglomerated firms would originate higher rates of innovation, higher levels of commercial development, and higher productivity (Belussi & Caldari, 2009)
