Knowledge management and challenges in SMEs supplying the hydrocarbon chain in the Neuquén Basin. Advancing research and reflection for policy design

Abstract

The document refers to a set of aspects that stand out in the development of the small and medium enterprises of hydrocarbons in the Neuquén Basin, in the Argentine Norpatagonia. The investigation is motivated, on the one hand, by recent changes in the energy sector in general, and hydrocarbons in particular, the fall in oil prices and a trend towards cleaner energies. And on the other hand, at a structural level, due to the dynamics of innovation that has opened up with the development of unconventional reservoirs for companies in the SME segment, which make up the global value chains for gas and oil. The new development phase of hydrocarbons requires new technical systems in the drilling and completion of wells and new extraction procedures, as well as changes in inputs, components and equipment. They mobilize a new organization of work, the increasing introduction of ICTs, the taking of ad hoc information, specific training, and a rigorous coordination that generated a new division of work upstream. In this framework, from an evolutionary approach to the economy, a set of problems faced by groups of regional SMEs that provide goods and services from the electronic and metal-mechanical sector are analyzed. It inquired about the routines of firms in the construction of technological capabilities, the development of new processes and products, external links and internal management improvements, changes in productivity, and commercial competition in the new scenario of volatility of oil prices.