Between traditions and modernity: Technological strategies at three tequila firms

Abstract

This paper presents the outcome of research conducted on the three major tequila-producing firms in Mexico. It analyses how the firms defined their technological strategies and the role of those strategies in the expansion of each firm. It is hypothesised that the competitiveness of these three firms and their penetration into international markets were phenomena that occurred before major technological changes took place in the agricultural and industrial segments of tequila production. This means that the decision to improve technological capacities was a result, rather than a cause, of globalisation in the industry. The technological capacities of these firms have developed slowly in order to preserve the original production processes and conserve this traditional product's rich culture and identity. By the 1990s, however, firms had accumulated the basic technological capacities that enabled them to improve both the agricultural production of agave and to increase productivity levels, and thereafter to increasing exports.