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Managing learning in the refrigerator industry: Evidence from a firm-level study in Brazil
Cristina Ferigotti
Associate Researcher, Research Programme on Technological Learning and Industrial Innovation Management in Brazil, Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration (EBAPE) Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Paulo N Figueiredo
Professor, Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration (EBAPE) Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Abstract
This paper focuses on implications of intra-firm learning processes on firm-level technological capability accumulation in an industrializing - or latecomer - economy. The relationship is empirically examined in a refrigerator producer - a subsidiary of a large trans-national group - during the period 1980-2003. Despite the profusion of studies on intra-firm learning and technological capability building, there is still 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 of 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.
Keywords
capability building, learning processes, latecomer firm, refrigerator industry
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