INNOVATION AND TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT IN PERIPHERAL INDUSTRIAL CLUSTERS: THE CASE OF BAHIA BLANCA'S PETROCHEMICAL POLE

Since the 1980s, under a post-fordism scenery an "imagery" has been developed that represents regions as carriers of an opportunity for being more flexible and innovative than large national units. It has been emphasized also that foreign investments have an impact on innovation initiatives when an articulated social, economic and institutional context open to novelty and change exists. Regions, therefore, abandoned their position as "objects" of development to become "subjects" in charge of their own territorial development process. Under this new perspective, this article presents results of a study on innovation and territorial development in peripheral industrial agglomerations. This research analyses in the case of Bahia Blanca's Petrochemical Pole. Investigates whether large enterprises activities have promoted territory's competitiveness by pushing the advantages of proximity and located interaction.