ABSTRACT This study explores the recent attempts to integrate global value chain (GVC) and national innovation system (NIS) frameworks and the extent to which it might be unachievable coherently. These recent integration attempts disregard the tension between the organizational boundaries of multinational corporations (MNC) and the national space - as a locus of learning and generation of technologies - in two ways. First, the GVC approach assimilates microeconomic upgrading to learning and innovation, which might fail to account for systemic learning processes and structural competitiveness. Second, the GVC approach assimilates production to capital circulation, which is consistent with the logic that dominates the expansion of MNCs during financialization, which is more oriented to appropriation than to the international deployment of technology. We resort to Marx’s decomposition of production and circulation processes to assess different internationalisation processes: trade internationalisation, productive internationalisation, and financial internationalisation. This analysis provides some insights to understand the limits of both approaches and the integration attempts to cope with the actual process of internationalization of production.

RESUMO Neste artigo, exploramos as recentes tentativas de integrar as Cadeias Globais de Valor (CGV) e os Sistemas Nacionais de Inovação (SNI) a um nível teórico, e até que ponto isso poderia não ser alcançado de forma coerente. Estas recentes tentativas desconsideram a tensão entre as fronteiras organizacionais das empresas multinacionais (EMN) e o espaço nacional - como lugar de aprendizagem e de geração de tecnologias - de duas maneiras. Primeiro, a perspectiva das CGV assimila a atualização microeconômica ao aprendizado e à inovação, o que pode não ser suficiente para explicar os processos de aprendizado sistêmico e a competitividade estrutural. Segundo, a abordagem das GVC assimila a produção à circulação de capital, o que é consistente com a lógica que domina a expansão das EMNs durante a financeirização, mais orientada à apropriação do que à implantação internacional da tecnologia. Recorremos à análise de decomposição de Marx do processo de produção e circulação para identificar diferentes processos de internacionalização: internacionalização comercial, internacionalização produtiva e internacionalização financeira. Esta análise fornece alguns elementos para compreender os limites de ambas as abordagens e as tentativas de integração para lidar com o processo real de internacionalização da produção.

Resumen El sector de software y servicios informáticos (SSI) argentino lleva dos décadas de actividad impulsado por políticas públicas y la subcontratación internacional. Sin embargo, en la actualidad el crecimiento del sector está estancado. Este freno se debe a un extractivismo de capacidades que opera por tres vías: precios-salarios, formación y financiera. La primer vía, la explica la creciente competencia por costos que resulta en contracciones de salarios y beneficios. La segunda, la formación de capacidades que se reorienta a los requisitos de la demanda internacional en competencias estandarizadas. Y la tercera, la valorización financiera de los emprendimientos. El artículo construye un conjunto de información estadística que permite describir y documentar este fenómeno en el caso argentino.

Abstract The Argentine software and computer services sector (SSI) has been active for two decades, driven by public policies and international outsourcing. However, growth in the sector has currently stagnated. This stalling is the result of the extractivism of capacities that operate in three ways: price-salaries, training and financial. The first explanation is the growing competition for costs resulting in contractions of wages and benefits. The second is capacity building that is geared to the requirements of international demand in standardized skills. The third is the financial valuation of the undertakings. This article builds a set of statistical information that enables this phenomenon for the Argentine case to be described and documented.

ABSTRACT This article analyzes the differences of firms in terms of innovation activities, external linkages and innovation modes according to their size and the presence of foreign capital. Using the National Survey of Employment and Innovation, we show that firms with foreign capital participation present a differentiated innovative behavior once they are stratified by firm size. Foreign-owned firms vis-à-vis domestic firms tend to make greater innovation efforts and are characterized by implementing more complex innovation modes, combining DUI and STI modes. However, larger foreign firms make in average relatively less innovation efforts and implement less complex innovation modes. These results revalue the analyses that consider the heterogeneity of foreign firms and show that those of larger relative size are not the ones with the best innovative performance, contrary to what happens with domestic capital firms.

In just five years, a rice producer in the eastern province of Chaco (Argentina) undertook an innovative process of large-scale production diversification. Since 2010, after an environmental claim, he integrated his main activity to the cultivation and processing of pacú, under a rotation scheme between both productions. Then, great changes were made in the organization of the company, which led to the coordination of a series of new and complementary activities to the new product (processing, logistics and commercialization of the new product, supply of inputs and specific technological requirements). On the one hand, from the perspective of organizational capabilities, skills and routines of the firm, diversification requires the development of important learning processes. On the other hand, the literature of pioneers argues that the first companies to enter in a new activity potentially facilitate the emergence of followers. This case allows us to reconsider some of the main hypotheses of both sets of literatures: organizational competencies and pioneers. It shows the complexity of the processes of innovation and productive diversification and their implications both within the organization and in its relationship with the environment.

En un periodo de apenas cinco años, un productor de arroz del este de la provincia de Chaco (Argentina) llevó a cabo un proceso innovador de diversificación productiva de gran envergadura. A partir de 2010, tras un reclamo ambiental, integró su actividad principal al cultivo y procesamiento de pacú, bajo un esquema de rotación entre ambas producciones. A partir de esto, se desataron cambios de magnitud en la organización que obligaron a coordinar una serie de actividades nuevas y complementarias al nuevo producto (procesamiento, logística y comercialización del nuevo producto, abastecimiento de insumos y requerimientos tecnológicos específicos). Desde la perspectiva de las competencias organizacionales, capacidades y rutinas de la firma, la diversificación requiere el desarrollo de importantes procesos de aprendizaje. Por otra parte, la literatura de pioneros sostiene que las primeras empresas en ingresar a una nueva actividad potencialmente allanan el camino a seguidoras. Este caso permite reconsiderar algunas de las principales hipótesis de ambos conjuntos de literaturas: competencias organizacionales y pioneros; ya que pone de manifiesto la complejidad de los procesos de innovación y diversificación productiva, y sus implicancias tanto al interior de la organización, como en su relación con el entorno.

This article explores the relationship between capacity development, innovation and employment dynamics in a sample of 403 industrial firms form different production networks in Argentina. It begins with the idea that the impact of the firms' innovative activities on the dynamics of employment does not depend on isolated efforts but on innovation strategies, understood as a set of coordinated and consistent innovation efforts, once considered the sectoral attributes of the productive network in which the firm operates. We propose a methodology in three stages. First we propose the identification of innovation strategies, on the basis of innovation efforts performed, using a factor and cluster analysis. Secondly, we investigate the effect of absorption and connectivity capacities in determining the strategies using a multinomial regression. Lastly, we analyze the impact of strategies and capacities on employment dynamics. The results of the econometric exercises show that absorptive and connectivity capacity impact on firms' innovation strategies, while they affect the dynamics of employment in terms of number of workers and in terms of their qualifications.

Se analiza la relación entre desarrollo de capacidades, innovación y dinámica del empleo en una muestra de 403 empresas industriales con diferentes ramas productivas argentinas. Se parte de que el impacto de las actividades innovativas de las empresas sobre la dinámica del empleo no depende de los esfuerzos aislados sino de las estrategias de innovación, entendidas éstas como un conjunto de esfuerzos coordinados y coherentes, con los atributos sectoriales de la rama productiva en la que opera. En este sentido, se plantea una metodología en tres etapas: en la primera se propone identificar las estrategias de innovación, en la segunda se indaga el efecto de las capacidades en la determinación de las estrategias y la tercera aborda el impacto de las estrategias y capacidades sobre los cambios en el empleo. Los resultados del ejercicio econométrico planteado muestran que las capacidades de absorción y conectividad de las empresas repercuten en las estrategias de innovación de las empresas, mientras que éstas afectan la dinámica del empleo tanto en la cantidad de trabajadores como en sus calificaciones.

L'article conjugue les apports de plusieurs thérories sur le changement technologique et institutionnel qui aident à comprendre la persistance du "piège du retard", dans le sens où se perpétuent des failles dans la coordination pour impulser l'apprentissage technologique. Comme point de départ, il est adopté un cadre théorique évolutionniste amplifié, dont l'axe est la diversité des agents, en termes de capacités d'absorption et de connectivité, et les effets de rétroalimentation dans les processus d'apprentissage qui potencialisent les processus d'appropriation, de changement structurel et destruction créative, donnant lieu à des dynamiques non linéaires qui marquent les sentiers du développement de l'empreinte de leur spécificité. Le traitement théorique est complé-mentépar les résultats de deux travaux empiriques menés à bien indépendamment dans des industries argentines et mexicaines.

O artigo conjuga as aportações de várias teorias sobre a mudança tecnológica e institucional que ajudam a compreender a persistência da "armadilha do atraso" no sentido de falhas persistentes de coordenação para impulsionar o aprendizado tecnológico. Como ponto de partida asume-se um enquadramento teórico evolucionista ampliado, cujo eixo é a diversidade dos agentes em termos de capacidades de absorção e conectividade e os efeitos de retroalimentação nos processos de aprendizagem que potencializam processos de apropriação, mudança estrutural e destruição creativa, dando lugar a dinâmicas não lineares que imprimem sua especificidade aos sendeiros de desenvolvimento. O tratamento teórico complementa-se com os resultados de dois trabajos empíricos levados a cabo de maneira independente em indústrias argentinas e mexicanas.

This article combines the contributions of a number of theories on technological and institutional change that help to explain the persistence of the "underdevelopment trap" in the sense of persistent flaws in coordination to drive technological learning. As its point of departure, it assumes a broadly evolutionist theoretical framework, whose axis is the diversity of agents in terms of capacities of absorption and connectivity and the effects of feedback in the learning processes that empower processes of appropriation, structural change and creative destruction, giving rise to non-linear dynamics that impose their specificity on development paths. The theoretical treatment is complemented by the results of two empirical studies carried out independently in Argentine and Mexican industries.

El artículo conjuga los aportes de varias teorías sobre el cambio tecnológico e institucional que ayudan a comprender la persistencia de la "trampa del atraso" en el sentido de fallas persistentes de coordinación para impulsar el aprendizaje tecnológico. Como punto de partida se asume un marco teórico evolucionista ampliado, cuyo eje es la diversidad de los agentes en términos de capacidades de absorción y conectividad y los efectos de retroalimentación en los procesos de aprendizaje que potencian procesos de apropiación, cambio estructural y destrucción creativa, dando lugar a dinámicas no lineales que imprimen su especificidad en los senderos de desarrollo. El tratamiento teórico se complementa con los resultados de dos trabajos empíricos llevados a cabo de manera independiente en industrias argentinas y mexicanas.