Assessing technological strategies and innovation in South American manufacturing firms’ performance: the role of women managers

Purpose – This study aims to examine how technological strategies and innovation, as well as the women managers, relate with firm performance in South American manufacturing firms. Design/methodology/approach – The data set used in the study includes information for 1, 712 manufacturing firms across seven South American countries for 2017. A series of regression models estimated via OLS was computed to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings – The core findings indicate that technological strategies – internal R&D spending and technology licensing – are positively correlated with firm performance. On the contrary, among the sampled firms, product innovation is positively correlated to profit levels, whereas process innovation is not. In addition, while firms with a greater proportion of women in middle manager positions exhibit substantially higher performance levels, having a woman as a top manager has not. Research limitations/implications – Policymakers should support the development of balanced innovation strategies that combine R&D with technology acquisition, while promoting greater inclusion of women in management teams, particularly in SMEs where external sourcing is more impactful. The cross-sectional design of the study limits causal inference; future research should conduct longitudinal and multi-industry studies to explore the tested relationships in dynamic contexts with evolving learning and human capital contingencies. Practical implications – Managers should adopt more balanced “make-or-buy” innovation strategies, according to the size of the firm. Women at the middle manager level improve strategic innovation execution, highlighting the need for more inclusive organizational structures in Latin American firms. These insights can guide strategic investments and human resource practices to enhance performance outcomes. Originality/value – This study makes a significant contribution to the strategic management literature in three key ways. First, it demonstrates the complementarity of internal and external technological strategies in emerging settings. Second, it highlights distinct performance associations of product versus process innovation, revealing underexplored bottlenecks in process implementation and new product commercialization. Finally, this research offers novel insights into how women at different managerial levels are related to firm performance.