Contributions of brokerage roles to firms' innovation in a confectionery cluster

Scholars have provided valuable insights into the networking phenomenon and its impact on firms' performance. Nonetheless, a wide spectrum of issues remains unexplored. Using the network approach, this paper examines the different patterns of intermediation between otherwise disconnected firms and its impact on innovation performance. Our research was conducted on a well-known confectionery cluster in the Valencia region. The data allowed us to calculate four brokerage roles, depending on the affiliation of the organisations involved. Through these values, we open the ‘black box’ of brokerage by examining the differential contributions made to innovation performance by the coordinator, gatekeeper, representative, and liaison roles. These differences between roles are based on the tacit or explicit nature of the knowledge transferred and the specificities of each broker profile. Consequently, the research makes a relevant contribution to the network and cluster literatures and implies some useful recommendations for policy-makers and individual firms.