SME innovation process: comparison of service and manufacturing firms
| Autor | Ronald Mora-Esquivel - Daniel Varela-Jiménez - Juan Carlos Leiva |
| Cargo | Doctor in Business Administration from the University of Valencia, Spain - Bachelor in Business Administration from the Technological Institute of Costa Rica - Doctor in Business Administration from the University of Valencia, Spain |
| Páginas | 39-64 |
39
AD-MINISTER
RONALD MORAESQUIVEL
DANIEL VARELAJIMÉNEZ
JUAN CARLOS LEIVA
ABSTRACT
The article seeks to provide an understanding of process innovation, an area of innovation research where
there is less contribution in the literature. The understanding of alternative ways in which companies inno-
vate both their products and services, and organize and evaluate the results of their innovative activities is
the focus of this study. To this end, a qualitative and explorative methodology was designed, focused on
Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) from the information technology sector (ITS). It was then compared
with a previous study of SME manufacturing in the food sector, both of which are in Costa Rica. Compre-
hensive, face to face interviews were implemented, with SME owners or managers who have recently
launched an innovative service. The Nvivo version 10 software was used to process the information. The
investigation results allowed the identification of a series of common phases and elements in the SME
studied, for the development of innovations. Also, the existence of a series of differences and similarities
in the innovation processes of these ITS SME with manufacturing SME was detected.
KEY WORDS
Innovation process, SME, Service innovation, Manufacturing innovation, Information Technology Sector
RESUMEN
Este artículo buscar aportar conocimiento en el proceso de innovación, un área de la investigación en
innovación en la cual existe menor aporte en la literatura. La comprensión de formas alternativas que
tienen, empresas que innovan en productos y aquellas que innovan en servicios, para organizar sus ac-
tividades innovadoras y evaluar sus resultados es el foco de atención del presente estudio. Para ello, se
llevó cabo un estudio cualitativo y exploratorio en Pequeñas y Medianas Empresas (Pymes) pertenecien-
tes al sector de tecnologías de información y comunicación, el cual se contrastó con otro estudio previo
sobre Pymes del sector manufacturero de alimentos, ambos en Costa Rica. Se aplicaron entrevistas en
profundidad con emprendedores quienes recientemente habían lanzado una innovación. Se utilizó el sof-
tware Nvivo versión 10 para procesar la información. La investigación permitió determinar una serie de
pasos comunes y elementos que caracterizan el proceso de la innovación. Asimismo, permitió evidenciar
diferencias y similitudes en el proceso de innovación entre empresas manufactureras y del sector de
tecnologías de información y comunicación.
1 Doctor in Business Administration from the University of Valencia, Spain. Professor at the School of Busi-
ness Administration of the Technological Institute of Costa Rica.
rmora@itcr.ac.cr
ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4315-0418
2 Bachelor in Business Administration from the Technological Institute of Costa Rica. General Manager.
Independent Agent Insurance Oce of the National Insurance Institute, Costa Rica.
danielvarelaj@gmail.com
ORCIDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-6082-2087
3 Doctor in Business Administration from the University of Valencia, Spain. Professor at the School of Busi-
ness Administration of the Technological Institute of Costa Rica.
jleiva@itcr.ac.cr
ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9653-4629
RONALD MORAESQUIVEL
DANIEL VARELAJIMÉNEZ
JUAN CARLOS LEIVA
JEL: O31, L30, M15.
Received: 21/11/2017
Modified: 12/11/2018
Accepted: 05/12/2018
DOI: 10.17230/ad-minister.33.3
www.eafit.edu.co/ad-minister
Creative Commons (CC BY-NC- SA)
AD-minister Nº. 33 julio- diciembre 2018 pp. 39 - 64 · ISSN 1692-0279 · eISSN 2256-4322
SME INNOVATION PROCESS: COMPARISON OF SERVICE AND
MANUFACTURING FIRMS
PROCESO INNOVACIÓN EN PYMES: COMPARACIÓN DE EMPRESAS DE SERVICIOS Y MANUFACTURA
Ronald Mora-Esquivel · Daniel Varela-Jiménez · Juan Carlos Leiva
Sme Innovation Process: Comparison of Service and Manufacturing Firms
40
AD-MINISTER
PALABRAS CLAVE
Proceso de innovación, Pymes, Innovación en servicios, Innovación en manufactura, Tecnologías de información
y Comunicación.
. INTRODUCTION
Innovation is currently considered the keystone in the competitive capacity of
countries. Consequently, the capacity to generate advances in science, technology
and new knowledge has become fundamental (World Economic Forum, 2016;
OECD, 2005).
In the study of innovation we find: a) a greater empiric contribution in the
innovative result than in the process (Crossan & Apaydin, 2010), b) also, the
explanation of the phenomena in developed countries and large companies (Matos,
Aparecida, & Querido, 2016), and c) a greater contribution in the literature of
technological innovations (Randhawa & Scerri, 2015).
In view of the aforementioned, the following research question is posed: are there
dierences in the characteristic elements of the innovation process of a product
and service between Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) in the food sector and
SME in the information technology sector (ITS). Therefore, the present study seeks
to understand the phases in the innovation process in SME of the ITS and their
characteristic elements.
Also, this study aims to determine similarities and dierences in regards to the
SME manufacturing innovative process for the food manufacturing industry. This
information will be from the point of view of a small, developing country, such as
Costa Rica. Additionally, this study will be focused on the understanding of process
linearity from the study participants’ perspective.
Costa Rica is the 53rd most innovative country, according to the Global Innovation
Index (Cornell University, INSEAD and WIPO, 2017), second in Latin America, only
behind Chile. Globally, Costa Rica is ranked 1st on ITS exports on the same index.
Additionally, 93.4% of Costa Rican companies are SME; most of these companies
are focused on service-rendering activities (43%) (Costa Rican Ministry of Economy,
Industry and Commerce, 2015).
It is important to highlight the role of both sectors studied (Food and ITS)
in the Costa Rican economy. The former, according to the Costa Rican Agency
for Exports Promotion (PROCOMER) (2018) represented 14.65% of the country’s
exports of goods; which in their totality, according to Costa Rican Central Bank
(2018), represented 19.3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2017.
In contrast, the ITS sector is made up, on average of 8.4% of exports in services
from 2012 to 2014, and all service exports constituted 14.8% of GDP in 2017,
according to the Costa Rican Central Bank (2017). Furthermore, according to the
World Bank (2016), this sector stands out for employing 2.5% of the workforce as
well as its importance for job creation in the country.
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