Despite the profusion of studies of firm-level technological capabilities studies, over the past 30 years, there is a scarcity of analyses on similarities and differences across firms, of the same industrial sector, in terms of types and levels, direction and rate of accumulation of technological capabilities and their implications for the improvement of techno-economic performance across different industrial regimes, especially in the context of late-industrializing countries, as it is the case of Brazil. Based on first-hand qualitative and quantitative empirical evidence, collected on the basis of extensive fieldwork, this article examines these issues in three large pulp and paper companies in Brazil (1970-2004). The results show that: (1) Inter and intra-firm differences across the companies in terms of the manner and speed of accumulation of capabilities for specific technical functions over different time periods; (2) Such differences were reflected on these firms' techno-economic performance improvement during the examined periods; (3) These companies responded positively to the changes into an open and outward-looking industrial regime, implemented from 1990s in Brazil; (4) However, the improvements to these firms' techno-economic performance were not derived from trade-openness per se, but, mainly, from their efforts on technological accumulation.
industrials regimes; technological capability; performance improvement; Brazil
