Effectiveness of local productive arrangements in the state saint paulo – Brazil

Background: To gain competitive advantages, companies are organizing themselves intolocal productive arrangements (APL) in several regions. However, in many cases, despite their successful establishment, these associations fail to play an effective role. Aim: Using secondary sources, this study conducted an analysis of 50 APL in São Paulo, Brazil, with the support of the state government, to determine the effectiveness of these arrangements. Setting: In this study, we focus on three elements: the existence of a formal board of directors, degree of sophistication of the APL website, and number of publications (scientific articles and journalistic reports) regardinga particular APL. Methods: The method used to verify the effectiveness of APL comprises a simplified form of analysis, by searching for journals in research bases, with analysis of the data by descriptive statistics, but can offer relevant preliminary indications. Results: The results showed that 34 of the 50 APL are effective, in terms of the three elements discussed above. Conclusion: The results in this work are considered to be important to indicate the sense of conducting this analysis for the APL supported by SDECT – Secretariat for Economic Development, Science and Technology of the State of São Paulo- Brazil.