Entrepreneurship and social capital: sources of local development, the case of the jewelry industry in Jalisco

Abstract

In the last forty years, in various regions of Mexico, such as Jalisco, there has been a push for the development of industries called “modern,” such as electronics and software; this with the aim of increasing growth and promoting development; all of this has been to the detriment of those industries considered “traditional” (footwear, textiles, jewelry), industries that have long been the basis of productive development in these regions. The industrial policies that these countries have followed have been to promote the former under the assumption that they are the ones that incorporate cutting-edge technology, while the latter incorporate little technology in their production processes and generally do not innovate. However, industrial behavior has shown that this is a fallacy.

The government policies that were implemented in industrial matters resulted in an increase in the productive participation of industrial activities called “modern,” such as electronics and software; however, traditional activities such as jewelry not only maintained but increased their productive and commercial dynamism. This dynamic is observed in the absorption of employment and in productive participation at the national level.

The jewelry industry is an example of this, since through the generation of entrepreneurial capacity, social capital and joint work with the government, among others, it has managed to influence the local development of the region. For this reason, this work analyzes this industry trying to highlight, based on interviews with key actors and a quantitative analysis of this industry, the basic factors that impacted the local development of Jalisco.