INNOVATION AND COMPETITION IN THE AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY AND SEED INDUSTRIES: OBSERVATIONS FOR A NEW RESEARCH AGENDA

Abstract

Agriculture is a sector technologically dominated by innovations coming from the input and equipment industries and by leading research developed in private and public laboratories. The upstream industrial sectors underlying modern agriculture explain the use of a theoretical approach originally conceived for the analysis of industry. This article is concerned with the technological trajectories of agricultural equipment, seeds and input industries using two complementary procedures: an analysis of entrepreneurial routines of the firm and a study of the industrial sector structure. Both references employ a theoretical approach of neo-schumpeterian inspiration. We emphasize technical progress, both as an element of entrepreneurial strategy, and as an element capable of defining the technological pattern and the evolution of industry.