Firms as source of variety in innovation: influence of size and sector

• DOI: 10.1007/s11365-011-0198-8
• Publication Date: 2011-07-18T22:50:38Z
• Authors: Rafael Cáceres; Joaquín Guzmán; Marek Rekowski
• Keywords: Sample (material); Variables

This article seeks to fulfill two main objectives. It firstly seeks to identify and quantify characteristics and behaviors of firms that are associated with what, in the evolutionary stream, is known as variety in innovation. A factor analysis is applied with a view to establishing, from a sizeable group of variables related to business innovation, the main factors or sources of variety in innovation in firms. The second goal is to estimate the influence of two variables that have been traditionally related to innovative firm activity on each of these sources: size and sector. The results of the analysis show seven important sources of variability in innovation for firms and that the influence of size and sector of activity on innovation occurs, at different levels of intensity, through these sources. The empirical analysis is based on the responses given for managers of a representative sample of enterprises in a personal interview.