Abstract
This paper focuses on the implications of learning processes for technological capability accumulation and performance improvement. These relations are evaluated through a single case study in the steelmaking unit of Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (1997-2001). Recently developed frameworks in literature on technological capability accumulation and learning processes have been used, but adapted to the unit studied. The technological capability is assessed in levels of competence to process, product and equipment functions. The learning processes are analysed in processes (inner and outer knowledge acquisition, socialization and codification) and examined in the light of their key-features (variety, intensity, functioning and interaction). The study has found that the technological capability accumulation through learning processes had positive implications to the improvement of the unit's performance
Highlights
The interest of researchers in the implications of a company’s capabilities for perfecting its technical-economic performance is reflected in classic studies which have mainly been published since the nineteen fifties (PENROSE, 1959; HOLLANDER, 1965)
From the early eighties till the early nineties, not many studies of this type were carried out. This shortage of work limited the generation of new explanations concerning these matters in companies from emerging economies, especially in Brazil. It was only in the mid-nineties that new studies with suitable depth, details and long-term coverage emerged in international literature to offer an explanation of the relationship between learning processes and technological capability accumulation in companies from emerging economies (ARIFFIN, 2000; DUTRÉNIT, 2000; FIGUEIREDO, 2001, 2003; HOBDAY, 1995; KIM, 1997a, 1997b)
Figueiredo (2001) develops and applies analytical models to explain how the learning processes influence how and at what pace technological capabilities accumulate and in turn examines the differences between steel mills in terms of perfecting their technical performance
Summary
The interest of researchers in the implications of a company’s capabilities for perfecting its technical-economic performance is reflected in classic studies which have mainly been published since the nineteen fifties (PENROSE, 1959; HOLLANDER, 1965). Figueiredo (2001) develops and applies analytical models to explain how the learning processes influence how and at what pace technological capabilities accumulate and in turn examines the differences between steel mills in terms of perfecting their technical performance. The analytical structure of this work is given, allowing us to examine the relationship between capability accumulation and learning processes and perfecting performance of the unit under study. This paper recognizes that besides learning processes, external factors may contribute to the accumulation of competencies (BELL; PAVITT, 1995; FIGUEIREDO, 2001; KIM, 1995, 1997a; LALL, 1992) These factors include government policy for industrial development, infrastructures of technological capacity and macroeconomic conditions.
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