Revista Brasileira de Inovação (Nov 2014)
An analysis of the business enterprise research and development expenditures composition in BrazilAn Analysis of the Business Enterprise Research and Development Expenditures Composition in Brazil
Abstract
In this paper, business enterprise R&D expenditures in Brazil are decomposed to stress the role of the individual firms’ innovation efforts and of the industrial structure in the aggregate levels of this indicator. Based on the aggregation of the manufacturing industry sectors into four groups according to their technological intensity, the ratio between R&D expenditures and net sales of the manufacturing in Brazil was analyzed and compared with the ratios observed in Germany, in the United States and in Canada. It is argued that if the target of Brazilian innovation policy is to increase the ratio between business enterprise R&D expenditures and the GDP, the focus should be placed on high and medium-high technology sectors. On the other hand, additional instruments targeting medium-low and low technology sectors should be used to allow them to benefit from incremental innovations and from the absorption of practices not directly related to R&D.
