This paper analyzes the cluster of small technology firms in Santa Rita do Sapucaí, Brazil that produces electronics. It finds that the cluster grew spontaneously in an unlikely place, driven initially by an individual's will to establish a technical school for electronics in 1959. The cluster now includes 141 electronics companies employing over 10,000 people and generating $1 billion annually without government support. Interactions between firms are based more on trust than formal contracts. The research aims to map the social networks that enabled this cluster's success.

1. Classification for arrangements of small technology-based firms: preliminary analysis of a case study in Brazil Hélio Lemes Costa Jr. Universidade Federal de São Carlos São Carlos – São Paulo – Brazil