Industrial Cluster in the Competitiveness of Automotive Services Companies: Mediation of the Value Chain

Abstract

Companies need to associate to share resources and capabilities, thereby achieving greater competitiveness in the market. The objective was to measure the influence of the industrial cluster on business competitiveness, mediated by the value chain in small automotive services companies in Peru. With a quantitative, basic approach, with a non-experimental design, cross-sectional data collection, causal scope, from a sample of 302 companies, applying a survey with a 51-item questionnaire, the data was processed with SPSS and PROCESS, applying a simple mediation model. The results showed that the industrial cluster is perceived as fair by 38.7% of respondents, the value chain as good by 42.1%, and business competitiveness as poor by 32.1%. The industrial cluster is related at 0.223 to business competitiveness, and 0.225 to the value chain. The value chain has a relationship of 0.832 with business competitiveness and an indirect effect of 0.187 in the relationship of the industrial cluster and business competitiveness, all significant relationships. It is concluded that the industrial cluster is fundamental in the competitiveness of automotive service companies and the value chain is the tool that enhances the relationship between these variables.