The objective of this paper is to look for indications of possible relationships between economic environment and manufacturing strategy, based on a comparison of Brazilian and Argentinean firms belonging to the metal products, machinery, and equipment industry. More specifically, it is our intention to identify similarities and differences in the modernization paths followed by companies of both countries, and also to discuss possible explanations for the behavior of companies in a period of significant changes in the economic environment. Structural and historical differences, as well as the prevailing economic environment by the time of the research seem to have influenced Argentinean companies in the direction of a more technological based modernization path - investments in hardware. Brazilian companies, on the other side, have concentrated their modernization efforts in the software side, i. e. in changing management practices towards a lean manufacturing model. During biennial period previous to this research, Argentinean companies achieved superior relative improvements in performance, when compared to their Brazilian counterparts, probably because they started earlier and from a weaker performance base.
manufacturing strategy; modernization paths; comparative performance