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Vol. 13. Núm. 45.
Páginas 69-91 (Diciembre 2010)
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Vol. 13. Núm. 45.
Páginas 69-91 (Diciembre 2010)
Open Access
Determinants of Abandoning Innovative Activities: Evidence from Spanish Firms
Detrminantes del abandono de actividades de innovacion: Evidencia para la empresa espanola
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Maria Garcia-Vega**, Alberto Lopez***
** School of Economics. University of Nottingham. GRIPICO (Group for Research in Productivity, Innovation and Competition)
*** Departamento de Fundamentos del Analisis Economico I. Facultad CC. Economicas y Empresariales. Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Campus de Somosaguas. 28223, Madrid. Spain. Phone: +34 913943158. Fax: +34 913942561
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Abstract

We empirically analyse the effect of firms’ barriers to innovation on the probability of abandoning innovation projects. Specifically, we study factors related to the availability of finance, knowledge and market conditions. We use a sample of more than 8,300 innovative Spanish firms for the period 2005–2007. We find that all obstacles to innovation have a positive effect on the probability of abandoning innovative activities. Results show that market-related factors seem to be the most important determinants of innovation failure. Analyzing results by firm size, we find that, for small-medium firms, the main factors that lead to abandoning innovative projects are competition from established firms and market uncertainty. In contrast, for large firms, the most important barriers are the lack of qualified personnel and the availability of external finance. These results might suggest that large and small-medium firms differ in the scale and complexity of their innovative projects.

Key words:
Innovation failure
Barriers to innovation
Firm heterogeneity
Resumen

En este articulo analizamos empiricamente los efectos de los factores que dificultan la innovacion sobre la probabilidad de abandonar actividades de innovacion. Especificamente, estudiamos factores relacionadas con restricciones financieras, factores de cono-cimiento y condiciones de mercado para una muestra de mas de 8.300 empresas innovadoras espanolas para el periodo 2005–2007. Los resultados muestran que todos los obstaculos a la innovacion tienen un efecto positivo sobre la probabilidad de abandono de las actividades de innovacion. Para el conjunto de la muestra, los resultados indican que los condicionantes mas importantes para el abandono son los relacionados con factores de mercado. Diferenciando los resultados por tamano de empresa, encontramos que para las empresas pequenas o medianas, los principales factores que inducen el abandono son los relacionados con la alta competencia por parte de empresas establecidas en el mercado y la incertidumbre en el mercado. Sin embargo, para las empresas grandes, los obstaculos mas importantes son la falta de personal cualificado y la disponibilidad de financiacion. Estos resultados se pueden deber a las diferencias en escala y complejidad que existen entre las actividades de innovacion llevadas a cabo por las empresas grandes y las empresas pequenas o medianas.

Palabras clave:
Innovacion
abandono
barreras a la innovacion
heterogeneidad empresarial
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We would like to thank Bruno Cassiman for his valuable suggestions. We acknowledge support from project SEJ2004-02525/ECON. Errors are ours.

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