Measuring innovation in agricultural firms: A methodological approach
Date
2013Author
Ariza, César
Rugeles, Laura
Saavedra, Diana
Guaitero, Bladimir
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Abstract
Measuring innovation is a notoriously difficult task. Agricultural firms present additional complications due to the
complexities and uncertainties linked to the sector. Among the increasing literature available on innovation, there is plenty
of information about innovation measurement in manufacturing industries, but scarce contributions for the case of
agricultural firms. Currently there is no concerted and/or published methodology for innovations measurement for such
firms. This research proposes a methodology for measuring innovation and its key determinants in agricultural firms, based
on three main tools. The first one is the Innovation Matrix (IM), an approach to a structured catalogue of the technology in
the agricultural subsector under study. IM includes information about innovation technological level, in terms of its place
on the technological spectrum of the subsector. IM also includes information about the frequency of innovation, which
refers to the degree of adoption of a particular innovation among the farmers. The second tool is the Innovation Index (II),
a single number that combines information about the technological level and frequency of the observed innovations. The
basic idea of II is to assign higher values to firms that implement either less frequent or comparatively advanced
innovations, relative to the ones implemented by its competitors. Since II is always a real non‐negative number, it is
possible to use OLS estimation procedures (third tool) to enquire about the factors driving innovation processes in
agricultural firms. We have applied this methodology to four agricultural subsectors in Colombia. The II results reveal
relatively small values for most of the surveyed producers. At the same time, they provide evidence to support the claim
that there are just a few innovative leaders in every chain. In general, the factors determining innovation are subsectorspecific,
but there are still some general stylized facts for the whole agricultural sector. The main consequence of this
finding is that innovation policy design for the agricultural sector must take into account the existence of both sectorial
(common) and subsector (specific) factors.
Palabras clave
Innovation matrix; Innovation index; Measure of innovation; Agricultural firms; Innovation drivers; TransactionalCollections
- Año 2013 [97]
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