Technological Competition in Deep Water: The Success of a Company in a Country in the Peripherv

Abstract

Peripheral countries tend to absorb new technology rather than produce it. They tend to adopt instead of create, and learn by introducing incremental innovations. In some cases, this technological trajectory based upon incremental innovation can lead to the emergence of radical innovation. This paper shows such a case in deep water offshore oil exploration, which was done by the Brazilian state-owned petroleum company. Petrobrás arrived at the technological frontier and is recognised as a leader in a field which now has competing technologies. The case permits an understanding of this competition, which, given the local nature of the learning process, is a competition between companies and even economic spaces. The paper examines the factors that affect the use of technologies with similar competing technologies. Finally, the paper examines the significance of such technological trajectories in peripheral countries. The strategy followed by Petrobrás is examined in order to understand how a company, in a mature technological sector and a not so innovative national context, has been so successful.