The Brazilian industrial structure went trough a process of decentralisation between 1970 and 2000. New industrial clusters emerged, followed by changes in entrepreneurial profile and, particularly, in the size of firms and their organisation. The objective of this paper is to analyse critically various studies of local development that were undertaken by Brazilian and foreign research groups. We examine how those groups interpret and apply concepts and research agendas developed previously. We find that the quantitative methodologies used to identify specialised sectors are evolving. But there is no consensus among researchers about the appropriate methodology and statistical sources for the study of Brazil. It is still necessary to develop methodologies that evaluate the density of links among firms and their qualitative aspects.
local development; industrial decentralization; quantitative methodology; qualitative methodology
