El impacto económico de la innovación en las empresas andaluzas

Resumo

Innovation, as a key factor for the countries growth, is a priority theme at a global level especially in contexts of crisis and change in strategy and business planning. Research about this topic is present in multiple disciplines, and academic, business and administration institutions underline its importance, by what it has become one of the main research lines. The purpose of this study is to measure the impact of innovation in the Andalusian firms in order to verify whether the innovation generated or not competitive advantages for innovative firms. In this sense, the approach presented in this thesis assumes that it is necessary to know what is meant by innovation (conceptual framework), what regulation is competent in this topic (regulatory framework), and what statistical information available can measure the impact on firm (statistical framework) in order to discern what methodology is appropriate for measuring the economic impact of innovation. The present study has showed that 1) statistical information that is currently available provides an overview of the structure of innovation and innovative processes within the firm through the data generated by innovation surveys elaborated by official statistical bodies; 2) the existing indicators are not enough in itself to measure the economic impact of innovation in firms. However, we can confirm that there are data from administrative sources that allow this analysis and facilitate to take decisions supported by reasonably reliable data. The methodology applied in this work has allowed measure different aspects of innovation impact, through integration of data from surveys and administrative sources. This method of work and analysis has been applied to Andalusian firms, with data from Innovation in Companies Survey as the Central Balance Sheet of Andalusia. It may be extrapolated to firms in almost any country and to other fields of study. This research work presents two important novelties: 1) the integration of data sources to analyse the innovation, and 2) the creation of added value: a 'new piece of statistical information' from official statistical bodies that provide a response to questions of strategic interest for regions.