from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
The dynamic changes noted on the world markets which have led to the globalization of economy have not eliminated the importance of local (regional) markets. Companies operating on these markets can improve their competitive advantage by building relationships that support collaboration. Forming relationships is even more important for companies operating in cross-border areas. In such cases, a natural consequence of the localization of the cross-border area is a desire to create cross-border relations. An interesting example of this type of activity is the cooperation of companies operating in the metal industry located in the province of Lubuskie in Poland and Brandenburg in Germany. Undertaking cross-border cooperation can, however, also cause negative effects such as the concentration of investments in Brandenburg and the outflow of workforce and customers from the Lubuskie market. The aim of the study is to develop the map of the cooperative relations created on the basis of grid goals and to identify the major ties and areas of cooperation between the companies of metal industry in the cross-border regions of the Lubuskie Province and Brandenburg. The map of cooperative relations was developed on the basis of the results of surveys carried out in 2014. The study included 20 small and medium-sized enterprises representing the metal industry of the Lubuskie Province and Brandenburg.
Keywords: Map of cooperation, cross-border area, metal industry© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.