Linking SMEs' clusters: A view of the information infrastructure

Rapid advances in scientific and technical knowledge and declining costs of producing, diffusing and processing information are transforming activity world wide and thereby leading to the emergence of the so-called knowledge based economies. With recent developments in information and communication, technologies are opening up the potential for linking such similar local and regional cluster. The prosperity of local and regional economies is increasingly seen to depend upon groupings or "clusters" of firms, connected through vertical and horizontal relationships. This paper describes the main information technologies that SMES need for achieving competitiveness within productive cooperation networks, for example, the Internet. The research methodology used was case study in SMES’ cluster in the São Paulo State.