Influence of interorganizational collaboration on the implementation of innovations

Abstract

Collaboration for innovation is addressed in several texts, but few bring empirical evidence of the influence of collaboration on innovation. Thus, the aim of this research is to identify and analyze the degree of the influence of collaboration on the implementation of innovations in Brazilian industries. The theoretical basis used consisted of texts that approach with innovation in a more consistent way and that specifically address collaboration for innovation. For data collection, a structured questionnaire applied to the Brazilian extractive and processing industries was used. This resulted a sample of 254 valid questionnaires. The questionnaire measured the innovation (5 variables), the sources of collaboration (9 variables) and the motives for collaborating (9 variables). The analyzes were based on the Exploratory Factor Analysis for the Motives and Sources constructs and the Multiple Linear Regression Analysis to verify the influence of Motives and Sources on Innovation. The results indicate that collaboration with subsidiaries or group companies, suppliers, customers and competitors has a significant and higher impact in relation to the five types of innovation evaluated. In the cases of radical and incremental innovation in process and Organizational Innovation, besides the sources already mentioned, one of the motives factors (access to resources) was also significant, indicating their influence on the implementation of innovations. As a theoretical contribution, this study seeks empirical evidence on the impact of collaboration on innovation, which is still in its infancy. As a practical contribution, it provides subsidies for companies and for the definition of public policies.