THE SHOEMAKING INDUSTRY CLUSTER IN FRANCA (SP): A STUDY ON LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY

ABSTRACT This paper is concerned with analysis of labour productivity - both individual and agregate - in companies that integrate the shoemaking industry cluster in Franca, State of São Paulo, Brazil. It was an exploratory research limited to a non-statistical sample composed of 16 companies, two of them were large companies, seven were medium sized companies, and seven were small companies. Descriptive statistics and statistical inference techniques were applied (bivariate correlation test). The results showed that there is no evidence of homogeneity in labour performance productivity among companies that integrate the cluster, once they are unequal, non simetrical, showing that the shoemaking industry in Franca is closer to an assembly of similar companies than a cluster. This shows that there is a need for investment in management training in order to allow for the development of a cluster, which would in turn result in colective and dynamic competitive advantages.