The processes of organizational learning and innovation: a longitudinal case study (1986-1995) in a company of brazilian oil sector

Abstract

Innovation is one important factor for companies. This study presents a longitudinal case study focusing on the learning processes associated to innovation on an oil industry company. To conduct the study, which was of exploratory nature, interviews were conducted with professionals connected to the history of the company. Reports about the processes of innovation were described by content analysis and related to: the types of innovation proposed by Schumpeter (1942); the types of learning proposed by Malerba (1992); the modes of learning single loop and double loop of Argyris and Schön (1978); the ways of knowledge conversion of Nonaka and Takeuchi (1997); and the creation of spaces of knowledge of Nonaka et. al (1998, 2000). The research results indicate that radical innovation tends to require a wider range of learning styles, if compared to incremental innovations. Still, the internalization and socialization seems to prevail in contexts of radical innovation, while externalization and combination are more frequent in incremental innovation contexts. Finally, the results point to the fact that the single loop learning is more directly related to incremental innovations, while the double loop learning is more present in radical innovation contexts.