Managing learning in the refrigerator industry: Evidence from a firm-level study in Brazil

Abstract

SummaryThis paper focuses on some of the implications of intra-firm learning processes for the manner of firm-level technological capability accumulation in the context of an industrializing – or latecomer – economy. This relationship is empirically examined in a refrigerator maker firm – a subsidiary of a large trans-national group – during the 1980-2003 period. Despite the profusion of studies on these two issues, there still is a small number of firm-level empirical studies that explore the relationship between them on a long-term and in-depth basis, particularly in the latecomer context. Based on a single-case study design, this study draws from first-hand empirical evidence gathered through multiple sources over one-year fieldwork. The tailored framework for capability accumulation identifies two technological functions: process and production organisation and product-centred activities. The framework for learning identifies four learning processes (external and internal knowledge acquisition, knowledge sharing and knowledge codification), examined in the light of three features: variety, intensity, and functioning. This study contributes to deepening the understanding of how various learning processes influence the manner of technological capability-accumulation paths within the latecomer firm. Additionally, in terms of methodological contribution, this paper applies innovative and comprehensive frameworks to measure technological capabilities and the role of the underlying learning processes. Finally, the evidence in this study contradicts certain common generalizations relative to technological development in the industry in Brazil.