A conceptual model for the development of technological management processes in manufacturing companies in developing countries

To face the challenges imposed by the current environment - characterised by the increase of new knowledge and technologies, the appearance of new products with greater value added and organisations of strong technological base, concentrated fundamentally in industrialised countries - developing countries must define a technological strategy, based on the progressive increase of the competitiveness of their entrepreneurial sector. Especially, the Latin-American countries are facing a difficult period in their development in a world where high technology products predominate. For Cuban enterprises entering new markets and restructing commercial relationships has become a fundamental purpose. But in order to achieve this it is necessary to develop the "domestic aptitudes" to select, assimilate, transform and generate technologies. In this article, a group of important enterprises in the central portion of Cuba have been diagnosed in order to measure their performance and innovating capacity as well as their levels of organisational and technological development. The diagnosis shows the necessity of creating a conceptual model for management of technological and organisational innovation in manufacturing companies in order to find a way to increase their competitiveness. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.