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 The paper aims to discuss the role of innovation ecosystems as a factor that contributes to the adoption by companies of more advanced generations of digital technologies. Based on the literature about corporate strategic management and innovation economics from Neoschumpeterian inspiration, the paper assesses whether the participation in an innovation ecosystem intensive in resources for the development of digital technologies stimulates companies’ digitalization process. The discussion derives from the analysis of results from a survey applied in 2020 to different companies located at the Campinas metropolitan region (RMC), some of them linked to the University of Campinas (Unicamp), and to companies from other Brazilian regions. The econometric exercise shows that the participation in innovation ecosystems promotes the adoption of more advanced stages of digitalization in specific economic industries.

RESUMO O artigo tem por objetivo discutir o papel do ecossistema de inovação como fator que contribui para a adoção de gerações mais avançadas de tecnologias digitais nas empresas. Com base na literatura sobre gestão estratégica de empresas e economia da inovação de inspiração neoschumpeteriana, o artigo avalia se a participação em um ecossistema de inovação intensivo em recursos para o desenvolvimento de tecnologias digitais estimula o processo de digitalização das empresas. A discussão baseia-se na análise dos resultados de um questionário aplicado em 2020 a empresas localizadas na região metropolitana de Campinas, algumas das quais vinculadas à Unicamp, e a empresas de outras regiões do Brasil. O exercício econométrico comprova que a participação das empresas em ecossistemas de inovação promove a adoção de estágios mais avançados de digitalização para setores econômicos específicos.

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.