Across Mexico’s most advanced manufacturing sectors, a quiet technological revolution is underway—one reshaping how leading firms build capabilities, innovate, and compete on the global stage. This book offers an inside look at how major companies are navigating the push toward digital transformation, revealing the real drivers of progress, the obstacles slowing adoption, and the strategic choices shaping their future. Through detailed case studies spanning automotive, electrical, food production, and beyond, it uncovers how firms are moving toward the technological frontier while balancing the demands of global value chains and the pressures of shifting environmental regulations.

What emerges is a nuanced portrait of an economy advancing at two speeds. While large companies accelerate toward Industry 4.0, smaller enterprises struggle with outdated processes and limited resources, widening the technological divide. By tracing these divergent paths, the book illuminates both the promise and the risks of Mexico’s evolving productive structure—and points to how the strengths of the modern sector can help lift the rest. It is essential reading for scholars and policymakers seeking an in-depth understanding of Mexico’s innovation landscape.

Gabriela Dutrénit is Distinguished Professor in the Postgraduate Program in Economics, Management, and Policy of Innovation at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM), Mexico. Her research interests include innovation and development, learning and technological capability accumulation at the firm level, university–industry linkages, research and development (R&D), and innovation policy.

Martín Puchet Anyul is Professor of Quantitative Methods at the Faculty of Economics of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). His research focuses on various aspects of the Mexican and Latin American economies, with notable contributions on growth, investment, innovation systems, and economic development.