NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT ABILITY AND INTERNATIONAL INOVATIVENESS: AN STUDY ON BRAZILIAN COMPANIES

NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT ABILITY AND INTERNATIONAL INOVATIVENESS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON BRAZILIAN EXPORTING COMPANIES

The focus of this research is to evaluate the relationship between New Product Development Ability (NPDA) and International Innovativeness through a cross-sectional survey of 167 Brazilian manufacturing and exporting companies, from a medium and large size sample of companies of the metal-mechanic and automotive sectors in Brazil. The analysis was developed through cluster analysis and analysis of variance techniques. The results show that companies with greater level of NPDA have a significantly greater level of International Innovativeness, in low, medium and high performance clusters. NPDA also positively relates with export intensity performance. NPDA is proposed as a fundamental process, both business and industrial, for manufacturing companies’ competitiveness.