The goal of this article is to identify and to analyze the technology strategies (TSs) adopted by small and medium-sized firms of the medical equipment sector located in São Carlos and Ribeirão Preto. It seeks to verify whether there are differences between the group of firms that reached higher innovation performances (IPs) and the one with lower (IPs) in recent years. In order to analyze that, data about TSs and IPs were collected from twenty seven medical equipment producers. The statistical analysis of the data shows that the TSs adopted by the medical equipment firms that reached higher IPs are different in many aspects from the ones adopted by those that reached lower IPs. Some indications were obtained that larger investments in internal activities of R&D&E development and in external sources of technology, larger dedication to technology forecasting, and development of a wide portfolio of product and process technologies have allowed the firms to reach higher IPs.
Innovation performance; technology strategy; small and medium-sized firms; medical equipment sector
