IP Outreach Research > IP Creation
Reference
| Title: | Why don't plants innovate? Findings from the Survey of Innovation 2005 |
| Author: | Susan Schaan and Frances Anderson [Statistics Canada] |
| Source: | Innovation Analysis Bulletin 10, no. 1: 11-12 |
| Year: | 2008 |
Details
| Subject/Type: | Innovation |
| Focus: | Barriers, Success Factors |
| Country/Territory: | Canada |
| Objective: | To enquire about the reasons why non-innovative manufacturing plants do not innovate. |
| Sample: | 6.143 CEOs or senior managers in the manufacturing industry |
| Methodology: | Mail questionnaire |
Main Findings
From 2002 to 2004, one third (35%) of manufacturing plants did not innovate. Reasons given for not innovating are: "lack of market demand" (51.7% of non-innovative plants), followed by "lack of funds" (28.4%), "innovations carried out prior to 2002 to 2004" (26.6%), "lack of trained staff" (24%) and "other reasons" (19.9%).
The study authors contend that some of the non-innovative manufacturing plants citing "other reasons" may in fact still be innovative: by creating custom products according to customer specifications or orders (and thus focusing on process innovation, rather than product innovation); by being part of a larger firm whose innovation activities take place elsewhere; and by adopting incremental changes (especially in "traditional industries" where technology and operations change in small steps).
While both innovative and non-innovative plants considered "satisfying existing clients" the most important success factor for their plants, their ratings of other success factors were significantly different: "developing new domestic markets" (24.2% of innovators versus 14.4% of non-innovators); "developing domestic markets" (31.6% versus 22.9%); "developing niche or specialised markets" (37.2% versus 23.6%); "seeking new markets (39.7% versus 24.2%); and "developing customer-designed products for clients" (45.1% versus 26.8%).
Non-innovative plants are not expected to be innovative in the near future, as few non-innovators reported having carried out innovation activities during the reference period. Only small percentages of non-innovators engaged in activities to develop innovations that were still ongoing at the end of 2004 (13.4%), or that were abandoned during the survey reference period (6.5%).
[Date Added: Aug 18, 2008 ]