Abstract

"Computers and Reverse-engineering-oriented Businesses in Mexico (1984-1986)"

Verónica Uribe del Águila, University of California, San Diego (vuribede@ucsd.edu)

In this presentation, I examine the concept of reverse engineering and its influence on business models within Latin American Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI) models of development in general and Mexico’s in particular. As part of the Computer Program- federal policy for developing a domestic computer industry within ISI-, Mexican electronic firms were encouraged to replicate the microcomputer through reversed engineering practices- that is, “the discovery by engineering techniques of the underlying ideas and principles that govern how a machine, computer program or other technological device works.” In doing this, the paper examines how firms engaged with the primary goal of ISI development models and Mexico’s government at the time: the production of 'tecnología propia' or domestic technology within the confines of small and medium firms (Katz 1998).

To do this, the paper is divided into three sections. First, it explores the connections between national technology transfer regulation and technology transfer practices at the firm. Consequently, it examines how business organizations in the eighties grappled with the increasing legal complexities surrounding intellectual property. Second, this paper traces how these reverse engineering practices, driven by a desire for technological autonomy, shape organizations' approach to managing technical knowledge, marketing strategies, and legal issues around patents. Finally, this paper argues that while Mexican electronic firms successfully replicated the microcomputer, they did not replicate the intricate power dynamics of the center and periphery models. Instead of passively mirroring these power relations, their reverse engineering practices were strategically aimed at subverting them.