Corporate research and value creation in Peru[Corporate research and value creation in Peru: know-how, appropriability and innovation capabilities]

This working paper develops a conceptual and contextual framework for understanding corporate research in Peru as a value-creation capability rather than as an activity mainly induced by public grants or tax incentives. The central argument is that public innovation funds and tax benefits can accelerate business innovation, but they cannot substitute for the internal routines through which firms learn, document, protect, and capture value from knowledge. Drawing on the resource-based view, the knowledge-based theory of the firm, absorptive capacity, dynamic capabilities, open innovation, technological capability accumulation in emerging economies, and the appropriability literature, the paper proposes an integrated pathway linking corporate research, structured learning, firm-specific know-how, appropriability decisions, innovation capability, and economic value capture. The argument is situated in the Peruvian context through indicators of low R&D intensity, public information on Law No. 30309, patenting evidence, and sectoral illustrative cases. The paper contributes by reframing public innovation instruments as levers of pre-existing capabilities rather than substitutes for strategy, and by offering a practical maturity framework for managers seeking to transform research activities into intangible assets, technical reputation, and new sources of income.