Industria ligeras y aglomeraciones territoriales en Latinoamérica: el caso del clúster textil de Medellín (Colombia).

In globalization, commercial capital has encouraged the relocation of productive activities of light industries. The textile-manufacturing chain of Latin American countries, like that of others that arrived at the global chain in 1980s, has been linked to the basic assembly of imported parts (maquila), through its comparative advantages (low wages, natural resources), being relegated to compete for costs, under the governance of large global buyers. Although Medellín and the Aburrá Valley textile-manufacturing chain achieved higher productive integration than those of other Latin American regions, its linkage to global trade in the absence of a coherent industrial policy and local capacities for development produced a reduction in its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and life quality in the territory. Development policies focused on local productive systems (SPL) have a multidimensional vision that helps to clarify the possible trajectories that clusters could follow in the processes of productive transformation and to improve the governance of competitive strategies; from those based on low costs, to others that may arise from the particularities of the local system and its valuation and can be developed through the action of the actors of the same local system. Some of Latin American best practices inspired by local /regional development studies have been reviewed in order to identify principles that could help those who are committed to industrial development policies, to lead the way to innovation and creation of dynamic competitive advantages, which could allow small and medium-sized companies in clusters to overcome the vicious circle of cost competitiveness.