Urban and regional analyses, especially on the formation of clusters, have attracted the interest not only of researchers but also policy makers. Assuming that organizations are heterogeneous, we believe that even within the same cluster firms can present different ways of managing resources. In this sense, the aim of this paper is to verify the existence of an internal heterogeneity in the garment industry cluster in Divinópolis, Minas Gerais, Brazil, according to the organizational capacity of the firms. To meet this goal, we used descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis, using frequencies, crosstabs, and a factor analysis, specifically the method of principal components. The results support the conclusion that the cluster presents internal heterogeneity; firms in this cluster are different in degree and in how they use their abilities. However, it was observed that a combination of capabilities effective in one branch does not necessarily guarantee competitiveness in another.
clusters; resource-based view; internal heterogeneity; organizational capacity; competitiveness
