Productive small and mid-sized enterprises are nearly three times as likely to introduce some form of innovation than commercial firms, a study in Greece has found.
According to a research paper by the Applied Marketing Department of the Thessaly Technological School (TEI), 44.6 per cent of all enterprises included research and development (R&D) into their growth model in the 2012-2014 period. The largest segment of them were productive concerns (48.3 per cent), while commercial firms lagged far behind (17.2 per cent). Food manufacturing and metal construction firms appear as leaders in innovation.
The analysis also showed that the higher a business’ turnover, the greater the emphasis on the introduction of innovation.
Only 12.3 per cent of the businesses that participated in the study received some form of financial support. The enterprises that did receive support from European Union programs (10-40 per cent subsidies) belonged to the sectors of foodstuffs and metal construction, with turnovers of up to 10 million euros.
Source: ekathimerini