Sustainability, Vol. 15, Pages 6459: Innovation Activities and Their Impact on Product Innovation Results: Evidence from a Sectorial Study

Sustainability, Vol. 15, Pages 6459: Innovation Activities and Their Impact on Product Innovation Results: Evidence from a Sectorial Study

Sustainability doi: 10.3390/su15086459

Authors: Eduardo Antonio Chang-Muñoz Andrés Felipe Guarín-García Yuneidis Charris-Sevilla José Fernando Gallego-Nicholls Cristina Santos-Rojo Arturo Ortigosa-Blanch

In the current competitive context, innovation has become a necessity, to the point that it seems that no company can survive without developing innovation processes. One of the great concerns of small and medium-sized companies is about the investment of resources in innovation activities and their success. Therefore, this article analyzes the influence of different innovation activities performed by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of the Colombian Caribbean region on their product innovation outcomes and thereby provides a solid groundwork for the design of innovation strategies. To achieve this objective, a data collection instrument was first validated in 56 SMEs, followed by the application of a reflective measurement model with convergent validity analysis. The results of the model application revealed that investment in Research and Development (R&D) and innovation, knowledge transfer, technology adoption, and financial aspects explain to a greater extent the introduction of new products to the market.