INNOVATION PATTERN AND ITS DETERMINERS IN AFRICAN AND ASIAN FIRMS

Although innovation is important, research on innovation in Africa is limited. This research developes theoretical framework that relates firm and country level variables with innovation performance. Utilizing World Bank... [ view full abstract ]

Although innovation is important, research on innovation in Africa is limited. This research developes theoretical framework that relates firm and country level variables with innovation performance. Utilizing World Bank Survey data on product, process, and marketing innovation for 10 African and 4 Asian countries, firms (n=10,610) are classified into (a) less innovative (n=4169), (b) process and service innovative (n=1602), (c) product and marketing innovative (n=1579), (d) process innovative (n=1345), and (e) product, process, and marketing innovative firms (n=1915). Among analyzed countries, fraction of "(e) product, process, and marketing innovative" was the highest for India (28.6%), follwed by Malawi (23.2%), Namibia (23.0%) and  Zambia (22.0%). This figure indicates, African countries are also innovative. Based on framework, a set of hypotheses was proposed and tested. We found that both firm-level variables: internal R&D, internal training of personnel, and new product development effort, and country-level variables: literacy rate and per-capita GNP promote innovation.