Catching up in Knowledge Intensive Business Service Sectors: the case of the Software and IT services from Argentina and Brazil

BORRASTERO, CARINA; MORERO, HERNÁN; URIONA MALDONADO, MAURICIO

Sao Paulo

Congreso; XVII Reunión Anual de la Red Pymes Mercosur; 2012

Red Pymes Mercosur

There is an increasing interest on Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) in recent decades and the software and related IT services sector is among the most dynamic and innovative KIBS. The aim of this article is to compare the structural characteristics and the relative innovative performance of such sector in two Latin American emerging economies: Argentina and Brazil, from a Sectoral Systems of Innovation perspective. First, we performed a comparative description of both software sectors, based on secondary sources. Then, we performed a quantitative comparative analysis, using primary data based on a survey applied to software firms in Argentina and secondary data from a survey from the Brazilian Government, namely PINTEC. Both regions showed specific structural characteristics which produced two different yet successful, in relative terms, innovation models. From the quantitative comparison however, Argentina?s SSI showed a better innovative performance. At a first moment, a differential intensity in the innovation activities could explain it from a quantitative point of view; but also the qualitative comparison suggests that the timing of the sectoral policies itself and it goals, like exports concerns, and the degree of coverage of the policy instruments, could be elements that can help to explain this differential performance.