The innovation performance of a firm is addressed using the System Dynamics method. The problem that motivated this study is the lack of a comprehensive theory that explains both the poor innovation performance of the Colombian industry and its scarce level of the technological capabilities. Although there are a number of attempts to explain the problem, their causal structures are not fully specified and their results have not been evaluated with regard to whether they altogether constitute a coherent and consistent theory of the underlying causes explaining the observed dynamics. Robledo’s (1997) research on the innovation process of the Colombian capital goods industry is examined in detail. We tested that the dynamics that Robledo describes can be produced by the causal factors he postulates. In Colombia, industrialists, academics and policy-makers need to do both acknowledge innovation as a learning process and estimate the intangible benefits of R&D.