摘要：The purpose of this study was to determine and correlate the innovation profile and the internationalization profile of prominent transnational firms, based on the concept of Resource-Based View (RBV). According to the literature, innovation constitutes a competitive advantage and favors internationalization. Descriptive and qualitative, the study sampled 27 transnational firms from the 2010 and 2011 ranking of the Dom Cabral Foundation. Information collected from 2010 company reference forms, explanatory notes and registration forms was submitted to content analysis. The innovation profile was based on the parameters “level of intangibility”, “adjusted Tobin’s Q”, “participation in sectors in the Brazilian innovation Index (IBI)” and “investments in innovation”, whereas the internationalization profile was based on the parameters “branches in foreign countries”, “external revenues”, “stock in foreign markets” and “foreign investments in the firm’s social capital”. Contrary to expectations, innovation was found to be inversely correlated with internationalization since the least internationalized firms in the sample were those with the greatest investments in innovation.
