Technological Learning and Competitive Performance

Paulo Figueiredo comprehensively examines how and why latecomer companies differ in the manner and rate at which they accumulate technological capability over time. He focuses on how key features of the learning process influence paths of technological capability accumulation and, in turn, the rate of improvement in operational performance. The author details the various processes by which knowledge is acquired by individuals and the mechanisms by which a company converts, or fails to convert, individual learning into organizational learning. This relationship is studied in detail over the lifetime of two of the largest steel companies in Brazil. He demonstrates that the rates of technological capability accumulation and operational performance improvement can be accelerated if deliberate and effective efforts are made to improve knowledge acquisition and knowledge conversion processes. Indeed these efforts are likely to generate significant financial benefits for the company that manages these processes effectively. The author is rigorous in his empirical analysis and adopts an original perspective by concentrating on latecomer firms within a non-industrialized country.