Factors of success and failure of innovations in SME's in Agrofood Chains

Short description of the project
SME's are an important driving force to keep national economies running; they are of great importance to the growth of employment. In order to hold this position a certain level of innovativeness of these companies is necessary. However there hardly is any knowledge available about innovation processes in agrofood chains in general, let even alone in the SME-parts of these chains. For that reason research on factors for successful innovations can contribute to a more effective policy from these companies and from the government in developing stimulating framework conditions. The research will focus on the specific character of innovation processes in agrofood chains and on the relation between three types of factors and successful innovations. These three sets of factors - with an accent on the first - are: chain factors dealing with the factor that SME's in food chains has a - formalised or not - relation with their suppliers and customers, factors that deal with the process of knowledge transfer from outside the companies in the food chain and factors that deal with characteristics of the company itself (strategic, operational). The objective of the research is to get a clear insight in the relative role of these factors in successful innovations.

First a survey will be held in which the agrofood companies with product and process innovations that are announced and/or described in Dutch journals in the second half of 1998 are interviewed on specific aspects of the innovation and the innovation process. The results of this survey (approx. 150 innovations) will be analysed in a quantitative way and matched with the results if the CIS survey. In a number of case studies the results of this survey will be studied in more depth.