Characteristics of companies and innovations and their relations with barriers to innovation in the Brazilian services sector

Abstract

Innovating is risky: there are many internal or external obstacles to the company and no guarantee of success. This research aimed to analyze the characteristics of companies and innovations and their relations with barriers to innovation in service companies. The study selected Brazilian companies that developed innovation activities between 2009 and 2014. The data on the barriers to innovation were retrieved from the Survey of Technological Innovation (Pintec), conducted by The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). According to the theoretical framework on innovation research in emerging and developed countries, five hypotheses were drafted, and variables were selected to verify the barriers behavior through non-parametric tests. The results for hypothesis 1 indicate that companies controlled by national capital encountered more barriers than foreign companies between 2009 and 2011. Other characteristics did not present significant differences. Companies that simultaneously developed product and process innovations (hypothesis 2), those that have developed completely new innovations (hypothesis 3), and those that have introduced organizational and marketing innovations (hypothesis 4), demonstrated to face more barriers than other companies. The Technology-Based Knowledge-Intensive Business Services (T-KIBS) had greater barriers than other companies (hypothesis 5) between 2012 and 2014. The results suggest that companies need to modify their processes to generate entirely new products, preparing to face more difficulties to launch radical innovations. In addition, it was evident the importance of organizational and marketing innovations in fostering other types of innovation, especially in service companies.

Keywords:
Service innovation; Innovation barriers; Emerging markets; T-KIBS; Survey of Technological Innovation