Firm Creation, Firm Evolution and Clusters in Chile’s Dynamic Wine Sector: Evidence from the Colchagua and Casablanca Regions

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centrality, for example, only three have high capabilities of innovation, the other two
firms have low abilities.

In the third network of linkages between wineries in a cluster and actors outside the
cluster Olavarria et al (2008) find a density of 0.036, showing there are few firms with
many knowledge inputs from outside the cluster. This may of course reflect the nature of
the investigations given that many knowledge inputs come from outside the cluster. Out-
linkages occur with institutions of investigations and business associations. The links
with business associations are of equal importance but links with institutions of
investigations are preferential; firms linking mostly with highest preference of the
‘Centro de Aromas’ of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica, then ‘El Centro Tecnologico
de la Vid y el Vino de la Universidad de Talca’. It is also important to note that not all
firms have the same level of connection to these sources.

For the Casablanca valley there is no current economic study on clusterization, an
obvious point for future research. As Olavarria et al (2008) point out a similar economic
space for firms within one industry does not automatically make it a cluster; this could be
the case for the Casablanca valley. However, there is evidence of a network between
wineries in Casablanca in the ‘Asociacion de Empresarios Vitivinicolas de Casablanca’.
This association is part of the tourist ‘wine route’ and incorporates eight of the wineries
in this region.

A further point of future research in clusterization is whether Giuliani’s (2006)
‘preferential attachment’ will occur. This being the scenario in which central firms keep

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