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Int. J. Technology Management, Vol. 36, Nos. 1/2/3, 2006

Firms’ culture and technological behaviour: the case of two breweries in Mexico Alexandre O. Vera-Cruz
Metropolitan Autonomous University Campus Xochimilco (UAM-X) Calzada del Hueso 1100 Col. Villa Quietud, Coyoacán 04960, México, DF Fax: (5255) 5483 7235 E-mail: veracruz@correo.xoc.uam.mx
Abstract: This paper addresses tworelated issues seldom explored in the literature on learning and technological capability accumulation in developing countries: first, whether and how firms’ learning and accumulation processes change in response to radical modifications in the context; second, how differently firms respond to such changes, with special emphasis on the role played by the firms’ culture in the variability of responses.This study is based on detailed case studies of two internationally competing Mexican breweries. The cases reconstruct the lifetime process of learning and technological accumulation of the case-study firms, emphasising strategies, processes and mechanisms. They reveal the way in which the firms’ culture shaped learning processes and created rigidities in the firms’ responses to changes. Theresults show that early experiences of the firms and deeply ingrained assumptions underlying the firms’ culture are a major factor for explaining the variability of the firms’ learning responses to changes in the context. Keywords: technological learning; technological capabilities; organisational culture; latecomer firms. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Vera-Cruz, A.O. (2006)‘Firms’ culture and technological behaviour: the case of two breweries in Mexico’, Int. J. Technology Management, Vol. 36, Nos. 1/2/3, pp.148–165. Biographical notes: Alexandre O. Vera-Cruz is a Professor at the Master/Doctorate in Economics and Technology Management, UAM-X. He holds a PhD in Science and Technology Research Studies, SPRU, in the University of Sussex. Dr. Vera-Cruz is a member of theNational System of Researchers in Mexico and referee of the National Prize of Technology. He has authored and coauthored the following publications: Cultura de la Empresa, Aprendizaje y Capacidades Tecnológicas. El Caso de las Cerveceras Mexicanas, UAM-ADIAT-Miguel Angel Porrúa; ‘Spillovers from MNCs through worker mobility and technological and managerial capabilities of SMEs in Mexico’, Innovation,Management, Policy and Practice; ‘Diferencias en los perfiles de acumulación de capacidades tecnológicas en tres empresas mexicanas’, El TrimestreEconómico; and ‘Aprendizaje y acumulación de capacidades tecnológicas en la industria maquiladora de exportación: el caso de Thomson-multimedia de México’, Espacios.

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Introduction

Over the years, the literature on learning and technological capability accumulation in developing countries has focused on analysing firms’ internal learning processes as the drivers of the acquisition of certain technological capabilities (Dahlman and Westphal, 1982; Katz, 1986; 1987; Lall, 1987; 1992; Bell and Pavitt, 1995; Kim and Nelson, 2000). Theliterature has emphasised the analysis of the ‘typical’ firms, and the authors’ efforts have focused on identifying generalities in patterns of behaviours. In contrast, little attention has been paid to identifying the differences between firms’ behaviours and examining the reasons for these differences. Following the outburst of the world debt crisis in 1982, which signalled the definitive end of theImport Substitution Industrialization (ISI) and conducted a major change in the economic and policy context in the Latin American countries, recent works have focused on the study of the new conditions of competitiveness and industrial restructuring (Unger, 1994; Katz, 2000; Ferraz et al., 1999; Kosacoff, 2000; Cimoli and Katz, 2003). Others have analysed the new patterns of technological...