ABSTRACT This paper proposes a methodological framework for assessing the adoption of digital technologies by industrial firms. Given the increasing economic importance of digital technologies, proper assessment methods are required. However, evaluating digital adoption can be quite challenging due to the pervasiveness, intangibility, and fast progress rate of such technologies. The proposed framework is designed to enable three tasks: (i) registering information about current and prospective adoption of digital technologies by industrial firms, (ii) developing indicators to capture the dynamics of digital adoption in time; and (iii) analysing digitalisation determinants, requirements, and outcomes. This paper contributes to building a reference framework to evaluating how digital technologies can strengthen the industrial development of nations, particularly developing countries. firms required However pervasiveness intangibility tasks i (i ii (ii time iii (iii determinants requirements outcomes nations countries

ABSTRACT This work aims to relate the stages of digitalization of Argentine and Brazilian industrial firms to their perception of how adopting digital technologies affect the labor market concerning job creation and demanded workforce skills. We used the information obtained in recent original field surveys conducted in both countries. The results show a positive correlation between adopting more advanced digital solutions and expectations of job creation in both countries. They also point out the need to further develop workers’ social skills and human-machine interaction. The study suggests that the expected growth of companies in their respective markets due to the adoption of digital technologies determines the relationship between those and employment at the firm level. countries workers humanmachine human machine interaction level

RESUMO El objetivo principal de este estudio es relacionar estadios de digitalización en empresas industriales argentinas y brasileñas con la percepción del impacto de la adopción en dos dimensiones del mercado laboral: la creación de empleo y las habilidades requeridas en la demanda de trabajadores. Para ello, se utiliza la información obtenida en encuestas originales y recientes realizadas en ambos países. Los resultados muestran una asociación positiva entre la adopción de soluciones digitales más avanzadas y una perspectiva de creación de empleo en ambos países, así como una necesidad cada vez mayor de desarrollar las habilidades sociales y la interacción hombre-máquina de los trabajadores. El estudio sugiere que el crecimiento esperado de las empresas en sus respectivos mercados debido a la adopción de tecnologías digitales determina la relación de éstas con el empleo en el nivel de la empresa. laboral trabajadores ello países hombremáquina hombre máquina empresa

ABSTRACT The article “Patterns of competition and competitiveness”, by David Kupfer, proposes an analytical framework that has become a reference for theoretical and empirical work on the relationship between competitive companies, markets, and competition located in any economic and locational space and at any moment of time. Proposed and matured as part of the effort of decades of investigation and empirical research carried out within the scope of the Institute of Economics at UFRJ, the text is being republished in this volume of the Revista de Economia Contemporânea integrating a tribute to the author, who passed away at the beginning of 2020. In this communication, a presentation and review of the article is made, situating its contribution in the field of contemporary economic analysis and discussing the possibilities of using the proposed concepts in light of current industry problems.

RESUMO O artigo “Padrões de concorrência e competitividade”, de David Kupfer, propõe um quadro analítico que se tornou referência para trabalhos teóricos e empíricos sobre a relação entre empresa competitiva, mercados e concorrência situados em qualquer espaço econômico e locacional e em qualquer momento do tempo. Proposto e amadurecido como parte do esforço de décadas de investigação e pesquisas empíricas realizadas no âmbito do Instituto de Economia da UFRJ, o texto é republicado neste volume da Revista de Economia Contemporânea integrando uma homenagem ao autor, falecido no início de 2020. Nesta comunicação, faz-se uma apresentação e uma resenha do artigo, situando sua contribuição no campo da análise econômica contemporânea e discutindo as possibilidades da utilização dos conceitos propostos à luz das problemáticas atuais da indústria.

ABSTRACT This article investigates patterns of digital technologies’ adoption by industrial firms of selected developing countries, namely: Argentina, Brazil, Ghana, Thailand, and Vietnam. The objective is to identify inter and intra countries’ similarities and differences in terms of digital adoption, and understand how this distribution is leading to digital heterogeneities thus reinforcing the well-entrenched structural heterogeneity prevailing in these economies. The analysis is based on surveys carried out between 2017 and 2019 that covered a panel of 1,212 firms of varied sizes and industries. The evidence shows that most firms are currently adopting a low level of digitalization and have a positive expectation for the future even with a low level of readiness. The larger and technology intensive firms are, the higher the probability of firms being digitally progressive. These results suggest an increase of inter and intra countries’ asymmetries in digital adoption, bringing the emergence of digital heterogeneities.

ABSTRACT This paper aims to identify the main factors affecting the adoption of digital technologies for a panel of 299 Brazilian industrial firms surveyed in 2017 and 2019/20. A probabilistic model is used to estimate the likelihood of certain organizational, technological, and environmental characteristics of the firms affecting digital adoption in the two survey periods. The study reveals that digital adoption has advanced but still is at an infant stage in Brazil. The econometric results point out that current adoption, size, belonging to high digital intensity industries, being an exporter, and training the workforce have a significant positive effect on digital adoption. However, skills qualification has a negative effect, suggesting that qualification on previous technologies can be more a constraint than a pre-requisite for digitalization. One must interpret such findings against growth-adverse, investment-hostile economic framework conditions where firms can react in any given direction: move forward to survive, stay put to face uncertainty, and/or backtrack defensively.

RESUMO Este artigo analisa a capacidade do Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES) desenvolver e implementar inovações financeiras para fomentar a indústria eólica local e seus fornecedores, no Brasil, na década de 2010, quais fatores exógenos e endógenos condicionaram suas ações e quais resultados foram alcançados relacionados. O artigo demonstra que fatores associados ao progresso técnico, mercado e política constituíram janelas de oportunidades exógenas, enquanto, do ponto de vista interno, o BNDES mobilizou competências necessárias para implementar sucessivas inovações financeiras, resultando em desenvolvimentos significativos da indústria e seus fornecedores. Espera-se que este artigo possa contribuir para acadêmicos e policy-makers interessados em discutir inovações em políticas públicas.

ABSTRACT This article analyses the policy capacity of the Brazilian Development Bank, BNDES, to develop and implement finance innovations to foster the local wind industry and their suppliers in the 2010s and which exogenous and endogenous factors conditioned its actions and the related outcomes. It demonstrates that technology, market, and policy drivers constituted exogenous windows of opportunities while, from an endogenous perspective, BNDES timely mobilised internal competencies to implement successive finance innovations resulting in a significant development of such sustainable industry. It is hoped that this article may be a source of inspiration for those engaged in researching and promoting policy innovations.