The innovativeness of Thessalian wood and furniture SMEs and the business environment

The international literature has dealt extensively with innovativeness, both in theory, as well as in a pleiad of empiric studies. Radical innovations encompass high quality action that contributes to the creation of new sectors, products or markets. Cooper (1998) adds that as long as innovations become more radical, they lead to evident and risky removal from existing practices. It is obvious that this kind of innovation does not appear at the level of the wood and furniture industry. For this particular reason the present study turns to the search of characteristics and capabilities that contribute to the growth of innovation, with a broader meaning, for the Thessalian wood and furniture enterprises. This case of innovation refers to mechanisms that presuppose the existence and permanent culture of Technological Innovation Capabilities in a suitably structured business environment. Actually, the correlations of internal–exterior environment compose the absorptive capability and are responsible and required for the successful management of innovation. Empiric data were acquired via a recent study of 45 Thessalian small and micro wood and furniture companies. The descriptive statistics impress extensively the present situation of the enterprises and the relative Thessalian business environment, offering support to the establishment of strategy and policies at regional level at least. Regression analyses examine the differentiation of enterprises regarding their innovativeness, based on the Technological Innovation Capabilities. Parameters of exterior environment that contribute or deter the innovativeness of Thessalian wood and furniture enterprises were statistically compered. According the results, Thessalian wood and furniture enterprises are not particularly innovative. Furthermore, the existing local enterprising environment does not contribute positively to the growth of innovative action. The enterprises do not approach or trust the institutions that support innovation and often appear not even to know their existence. Besides, it seems that the mechanisms of innovation spring mainly from the firms’ production and other points of their own supply chain. 1 Application Professor Laboratory of Applied Marketing, Management and Economics Department of Wood and Furniture Design and Technology TEI Larissa, Tel. 694-2642497, E mail: karagg@teilar. gr 2 Assistant Professor – Laboratory of Applied Marketing, Management and Economics Department of Wood and Furniture Design and Technology TEI Larissa, Tel. 693-7384777, E mail: [email protected] Proceedings Management of International Business and Economics Systems 2009 (MIBES) International Conference, http://mibes.teilar.gr. /Florina Greece, 18-20 Sept. Oral paper (in press).