Administração estratégica da tecnologia e construção de aptidões tecnológicas estratégicas: um estudo de caso no setor eletro-eletrônico

Abstract

With the aim of advance in the understanding of how the strategic management of technology at the firm level contributes to the building a distinctive technological capability and, consequently, to the achievement of competitive advantage, a case-study in a Brazilian company of the electro-electronic industry, with a relevant technical progress introductionhistoric and good market performance, was conducted. The empirical research was based on a conceptual framework proposed by the author concerning the strategic management of technology that includes: technology strategy and technological learning practices. The technology strategy dimension was analyzed from three basic components: the technological posture, the options and portfolio of technologies, and its integration with the business strategy. The dynamics of technological learning was examined from the processes of creation, acquisition and development of internal and/or external knowledge as well as the processes of socialization and codification that involves the sharing and the dissemination of that knowledge. Some indicators of company-innovative efforts and its impacts, traditionally used in the literature of the area, were evaluated and compared to certify the technological capability of the studied organization. The data were collected by no-participant observation, documentary research and interviews with managers and supervisors of the diverse departments of the company. The content analysis made possible to extract of interviewed speech the elements that had allowed the understanding of the research questions. The results give a good idea of the possibilities opened for the companies who effectively include technological development and innovation as structuralized and intentional activity of its dayby-day. In addition, the empirical analysis shows that is possible for a familiar Brazilian company to be in the edge of the technological development in a technology-intensive industry. In accordance to the Dynamic Capabilities approach, the studied organization demonstrated its capacity to learn, to adapt, to integrate and to reconfigure its resources and internal competencies at the same time it looks for to meet the changing business environment requirements. The company offensive strategic-technological posture and its diversity of learning activities explain how it built, in the practical one, throughout its history, a distinctivetechnological capability to differentiate it of its competitors. The study also contributes to academics launching light on the relationship between the knowledge management, the organizational learning and the strategic management in the attempt to explain how the companies can achieve and sustain competitive advantages.