Stefânia Monteiro de Barros Teixeira

The present work has for objective to analyze the general and specific aspects that sustain the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises load of the municipal district of Apucarana, located in the center-north of Paraná, with respect to the production of caps and that it checks it the status of Brazilian capital of the cap. In the intention of to give support for such study, it is made an analysis of the characteristics presented by the firms of small load, as well as of the new insert opportunities, in a new context in the productive configuration in world level. This way, some successful cases of small and medium enterprises agglomerations in a new form of productive organization. The new, in this case, doesn't just refer to the geographical proximity, but also to the new interaction forms among the agents. In that sense, the study is moved forward, in way to turn comprehensive the theoretical bases in that it is founded the phenomenon of the productive arrangements, for to proceed. It is approached, then, the neoschumpeterian and evolutionary theory, in way to give support to a dynamic approach of the competitiveness, whose foundations will orientate the case study thoroughly in subject. Under such perspective, it could be verified that the productive arrangement of making of caps possesses a path marked historically by attempts and mistakes that provided its an important competitive differential, mainly regarding the local learning, innovations increase and cooperation. With respect to the governance, arrangement still possesses a quite diffuse coordination, although it has already walk a long road until that if they established partnerships reasonably stable. To the light of the evolutionary approach, the field research allowed to capture just one moment in the path of the arrangement, that it indicated a tendency to an upgrading regarding the diversification of the productive structure, maintaining the high complementarities degree. However, as every evolutionary process, the speed and determination of the direction of that path depends on the coordination and the involved agents' joint action. In that sense, it is noticed, that more recently, the public action has participated a little more, fact this that didn't happen when of the formation of the
arrangement.