Sustainability-oriented Innovation: Crucial Sources to Achieve Competitiveness

Abstract

Innovation is an important part of a sustainable society and a prerequisite for the long-term competitiveness of organizations. Continuous innovation can support the sustainability of organizations, which represents an important area for every organization and for the entire society. This paper aims to identify the main sources of innovation that support sustainability and competitiveness in the organizations surveyed. The study is based on both quantitative and qualitative research (the questionnaire survey of n 1 = 183; the focus groups of n 2 = 5), using the tools of descriptive statistics and factor analysis by the method of principal components. The results have shown that the main sources of innovation are stakeholders involved in the sales chain, primary and applied research, innovation programmes focused on employees as well as customers, and benchmarking.

Supply Chain Management and Innovation Practices as Core Strategies for Business Competitiveness and Performance

“…Second, Franco (2020) study data analysis corroborates that a favorable institutional context can successfully support companies in their innovation strategies and investments. In addition, when implementing innovation in organizations, the main sources for the innovation process include benchmarking and applied research (Urbancová & Vrabcová, 2023), which implies that learning from other companies is vital to remain competitive. Furthermore, it is also important that organization human resources learn from each other, particularly in small size firms, where it is challenging to find qualified human resources, particularly high-skilled workers, and this is representing a relevant obstacle to the innovation process (Franco, 2020).…”

“…In this context, it is crucial that government implement strategies to promote innovation capabilities in the SMEs, because innovation is a vital element to promote a sustainable society. In addition, entrepreneurship and innovation can be suitable vehicles for competitiveness (Urbancová and Vrabcová, 2023;Vrabcová, et al 2021;Bigliardi, et al, 2020); Wang, et al 2019;Gupta et al, 2016;Rossi and Raimondi, 2007). Table 1 presents several results of the theoretical research on the innovation-competitiveness relationship.…”