This article assesses the difficulties faced by three local production systems (LPSs) in the State of Rio de Janeiro, trying to verify whether or not their reality reflects the theory of governance and business networks. The hypothesis that drives this research is that the reality is not close to the theoretical ideal world, and that there are many issues which were not considered by the conceptual discussions. A field research and a quality analysis were performed. The data was obtained by means of a number of in-depth interviews with stakeholders in textile industry LPSs in the cities of Nova Friburgo, Petropolis and Cabo Frio (such as owners, government representatives and union representatives). According to the analysis, there are many issues that the theory cannot deal with, such as lack of business skills, huge differences among stakeholders, in terms of size and priorities, and an unreliable behavior among these businessmen.
business networks; local production systems; LPSs; governance; collective management