Arnoldo Souza Cabral

ANALYSIS OF TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION STRATEGY FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM COMPANIES OF THE AERONAUTICAL SECTOR. doi: 10.5028/jatm.2010.02025410

The inherent risk in high-tech activity requires the construction of technological strategies that serve global strategy of the company. The present study aimed to characterize the technological position of small and medium technology-based companies of the aeronautical sector located in the Vale do Paraíba, and to examine whether these companies have a technological strategy formalized and disseminated. The adopted methodology was a descriptive exploratory research, carried out through in-depth individual interviews conducted with the small e medium company’s owners of the cities of Caçapava, São José dos Campos and Taubaté, Brazil. The authors concluded that it is necessary that companies, especially small and medium-sized, adopt a technological innovation strategy integrated with the company’s overall strategy. This will help keeping them competitive within their specificities, and not only in the domestic market, but also in international markets.

How a Brazilian firm, characterized by an innovator profile, seeks to construct competitive advantage and how it impacts at general economy growth

This work focuses on verifying at AVIBRAS INDUSTRIA AEROESPACIAL S/A, a firm from Brazilian aerospace cluster, practices related to competitive advantage construction, particularly those ones applied on the product called ldquoASTROS IIrdquo (Artillery SaTuration ROcket System), a ballistic rocket launcher, in which the firm performs an innovation process. This work also seeks to evaluate, by economic point of view, the relation among this product innovation process and its impacts on the general economic growth of the sectors where firm actuates. Initially, an academic literature revision is performed about technology and innovation management, as well as economics of innovation. Then, the firm is analyzed considering its practices in competitive advantage construction, technology and innovation management, and economics of innovation. The next step is a field research, in which an aerospace themes specialist consultant expresses his feeling about the grade of impact of ASTROS II system innovation process on the firmpsilas specific economic growth and on the general one, considering the sectors where the firm actuates. The conclusions of this work suggest how strongly the ASTROS II system innovation process impacts on the firmpsilas specific economic growth and on the general one, considering the sectors where the firm actuates.