Understanding demand for innovation in the food industry

Purpose – This paper aims to focus on understanding how demand for innovation is articulated in low‐tech industries, dominated by SMEs, where innovation is often based on informal processes and uncodified knowledge, relying on intangible assets.Design/methodology/approach – The authors hypothesize that the problems found in the innovation area are exacerbated in a traditional industry. SMEs might have difficulty understanding what their requirements might be, let alone finding the optimal provider of technologies. The authors therefore expect to find three main forms of demand: real, latent, and potential. The specific case is the food industry in Apulia, Italy. First, focus groups identified general business and technology needs. Then in‐depth interviews were conducted with 87 firms, stratified in order to be representative of food firms in Apulia.Findings – The authors detected 285 different needs requiring an innovative solution. In most cases, firms understand the areas to be improved, but do not have...

[1]  Barry Bozeman,et al.  Technology transfer and public policy: a review of research and theory , 2000 .

[2]  Franco Malerba,et al.  Technological Regimes and Sectoral Patterns of Innovative Activities , 1997 .

[3]  S. Zahra,et al.  Entrepreneurship and Dynamic Capabilities: A Review, Model and Research Agenda , 2006 .

[4]  Giovanni Galizzi,et al.  Product innovation in the food industry: nature, characteristics and determinants. , 1996 .

[5]  Margaret A. Peteraf,et al.  Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/mde.1126 Unraveling The Resource-Based Tangle , 2022 .

[6]  S. Zahra,et al.  Cognition and international entrepreneurship: implications for research on international opportunity recognition and exploitation , 2005 .

[7]  G. West Collective Cognition: When Entrepreneurial Teams, Not Individuals, Make Decisions , 2007 .

[8]  P. Liamputtong Qualitative Research Methods , 2005 .

[9]  S. Harding The Dynamics of Innovation Clusters: A Study of the Food Industry , 2004 .

[10]  Kathleen M. Eisenhardt,et al.  Theory Building From Cases: Opportunities And Challenges , 2007 .

[11]  Klaus G. Grunert,et al.  A framework for analysing innovation in the food sector. , 1997 .

[12]  L. Georghiou,et al.  Public procurement and innovation?Resurrecting the demand side , 2007 .

[13]  E. Andersen Innovation and Demand , 2007 .

[14]  D. Teece Explicating dynamic capabilities: the nature and microfoundations of (sustainable) enterprise performance , 2007 .

[15]  Nathan,et al.  The influence of market demand upon innovation: A critical review of some recent empirical studies , 1993 .

[16]  P. Schoemaker,et al.  Strategic assets and organizational rent , 1993 .

[17]  F. Malerba Learning by Firms and Incremental Technical Change , 1992 .

[18]  Shahid Yusuf Intermediating knowledge exchange between universities and businesses , 2008 .

[19]  R. M. Boom,et al.  Food production: trends in system innovation , 2005 .

[20]  R. Hawkins,et al.  University research in an 'innovation society' , 2006 .

[21]  James M. Utterback,et al.  A dynamic model of process and product innovation , 1975 .

[22]  A. Geuna,et al.  The Governance of University Knowledge Transfer: A Critical Review of the Literature , 2009 .

[23]  M. Meeus,et al.  Firm behaviour and innovative performance: An empirical exploration of the selection–adaptation debate , 2000 .

[24]  K. Pavitt Sectoral Patterns of Technical Change : Towards a Taxonomy and a Theory : Research Policy , 1984 .

[25]  E. Mansfield Academic Research Underlying Industrial Innovations , 1995 .

[26]  H. Chesbrough,et al.  Open Innovation and Strategy , 2007 .

[27]  D. Padberg,et al.  Product Competition and Consumer Behavior in the Food Industries , 1979 .

[28]  Marjorie A. Lyles,et al.  Dynamic Capabilities: Current Debates and Future Directions , 2009 .

[29]  Anthony Arundel,et al.  Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators in a Changing World: Responding to Policy Needs , 2007 .

[30]  K. Eisenhardt Building theories from case study research , 1989, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[31]  Marjorie A. Lyles,et al.  Absorbing the Concept of Absorptive Capacity: How to Realize Its Potential in the Organization Field , 2009 .

[32]  Gianluca Nardone,et al.  Organizzazione, innovazione e competitività nel sistema agro-alimentare: aspetti teorici ed implicazioni strategiche , 2009 .

[33]  G. Pisano Which kind of collaboration is right for you , 2009 .

[34]  Luke Georghiou,et al.  Creating an Innovative Europe: report of the independent expert group on R&D and innovation , 2006 .

[35]  Friederike Welter,et al.  The Dynamics of Innovation Clusters : A Study of the Food Industry , 2004 .

[36]  Christine Daymon,et al.  Qualitative research methods in public relations and marketing communications , 2002 .

[37]  Maurizio Zollo,et al.  Deliberate Learning and the Evolution of Dynamic Capabilities , 2002 .

[38]  Jean Hartley,et al.  Case study research , 2004 .

[39]  M. Porter The Competitive Advantage Of Nations , 1990 .

[40]  Marian Garcia Martinez,et al.  INNOVATION IN THE SPANISH FOOD AND DRINK INDUSTRY , 2000 .

[41]  Jacob Schmookler,et al.  Invention and Economic Growth , 1967 .

[42]  J. Howells Intermediation and the role of intermediaries in innovation , 2006 .

[43]  O. Gassmann,et al.  Open R&D and Open Innovation: Exploring the Phenomenon , 2009 .

[44]  Raimar Richers The theory of economic development , 1961 .

[45]  Wilfred Dolfsma,et al.  Technology-push, demand-pull and the shaping of technological paradigms - Patterns in the development of computing technology , 2002 .

[46]  P. Ghemawat,et al.  Organizational tension between static and dynamic efficiency, The , 1993 .