TECHNOLOGICAL CAPABILITY AND CORPORATE STRATEGY: FIRM-LEVEL EVIDENCE FROM THE PUBLIC SWITCHED TELEPHONY INDUSTRY IN BRAZIL

ABSTRACT Studies on corporate strategy, more specifically those developed from thw 1990s, emphasize the importance of technological capability and innovation aspects as competitive advantage sources. Empirical studies on this issue are still scarce in the literature, especially in late-industrializing countries. Drawing on available frameworks in the international literature the aim of this paper is to present empirical evidence of corporate strategies based on the development of technological capability. To elaborate the current work, a fieldwork was carried out in Telemar Norte Leste, a big telecommunications operator in Brazil. The study covers 1998-2005 just after the privatization of telecommunications services in Brazil. Telemar put a lot of effort on the accumulation of technological capability. The evidence suggests that this had positives implications for its competitive performance. The study suggest that a corporate strategy supported by a technological capability building a approach certainly contributes to improving corporate performance corporate performance indicators.