This study examines the relationships between aspects of firm-level innovation performance from the perspective of under-researched process industries in an emerging economy. We consider primary evidence from 63 firms in five Brazilian process industries over a 10-year period to examine firm-level innovation input and output performance. Our results reveal the following: (1) Regarding innovation input performance, (a) although most firms upgraded their technological capability levels, more firms moved from production capability to basic and intermediate innovation capability levels than from intermediate to advanced capability, while only a few firms moved from advanced to world-leading innovation capability levels, and (b) combinations of the acquisition of external knowledge and the creation, sharing, integration, and codifying of knowledge within firms positively and significantly influenced firms' accumulation of capabilities, but these combinations' effectiveness varied depending on the accumulation of specific levels of capabilities. (2) Concerning innovation output performance, (a) firms' accumulated capability levels underpinned the implementation of non-R&D and R&D-related innovative activities; (b) firms that accumulated high-level innovation capabilities were more productive, but accumulating technological capability had even greater positive effects on labour productivity for low-productivity firms; and (c) increasing technological capabilities for higher-exporting firms produced a higher proportion of exports in their revenue than for those that exported less. This study's comprehensive, nuanced analysis draws on mixed methods to advance our understanding of the intricacies involved in firm-level innovation performance, particularly from the perspective of a less R&D- and patenting-intensive setting. We also provide a basis for exploring this issue in other research contexts.

这项研究从新兴经济体中研究不足的过程工业的角度考察了企业级创新绩效各方面之间的关系。我们考虑了来自巴西五个加工行业的63家公司在10年内的主要证据，以研究公司层面的创新投入和产出绩效。我们的结果揭示了以下内容：（1）关于创新投入绩效，（a）尽管大多数公司提高了技术能力水平，但更多的公司从生产能力转向了基础创新和中间创新能力水平，而不是从中级能力到高级能力，而只有少数公司从高级能力转变为世界领先的创新能力，并且（b）外部知识的获取与公司内部知识的创建，共享，集成和编纂相结合对企业的能力积累产生了积极而显着的影响，但这些组合的有效性因特定能力水平的积累而异。（2）关于创新产出绩效，（a）企业的累积能力水平为实施非研发和与研发相关的创新活动提供了支撑；（b）积累了高水平创新能力的企业生产力更高，但是积累技术能力对低生产率企业的劳动生产率产生了更大的积极影响；（c）较高出口企业的技术能力提高，其出口收入所占比例要高于出口量较少的企业。这项研究的全面，细致的分析采用了多种方法，以加深我们对企业级创新绩效所涉及的复杂性的理解，尤其是从研发和专利密集程度较低的角度出发。我们还为在其他研究环境中探索此问题提供了基础。