Measuring technological capabilities in Mexican industry

This paper is a methodological and analytical contribution to a line of research whose objective is to construct representative indices of the technological capabilities of Mexican manufacturing establishments. It also examines the distribution of these capabilities in such establishments and their association with performance variables in a sample of 1.818 firms. Factor analysis was used to identify four factors expressing the main sources of learning in manufacturing industry: i) training policy, ii) continuous improvement innovation, iii) information and documentation systems, and iv) investment in new technologies. Grouping analysis was used to identify four groups of establishments on the basis of points scored per factor and to examine their performance indicators. There was found to be a positive association between technological capabilities and performance in three of the five indices: profit margins, labour productivity and technical change.