Local Spillovers, Firm Organization and Export Behaviour: Evidence from the French Food Industry

C HEVASSUS-LOZZA E. and G ALLIANO D. (2003) Local spillovers, firm organization and export behaviour: evidence from the French food industry, Reg. Studies 37 , 147-158. The objective of this paper is to determine the respective effects of spatial externalities (urban and industrial economies of agglomeration), specific internal characteristics (due to the organization of firms) and industrial spillovers (due to national specialization) on the export behaviour of firms. For this purpose, this econometric study, based on individual data of firms, distinguishes two aspects: firstly, the firms' decision to export or not; and, secondly its export performance. The first results confirm that the competitiveness of firms is not only due to the effect of national specialization, but also to firms specific advantages that are closely related to the characteristics of their spatial environment.