Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
BOX 4.1
THE PERCEPTION OF OBSTACLES
TO INNOVATION: A CASE STUDY ON
FOREIGN MNEs AND DOMESTIC FIRMS
IN ITALY
In this case study we analyse how the perception of different
types of obstacles to innovation in the case of Italian firms is
affected by both the type of firm (by organizational structure and
ownership) and the regional location. The ultimate aim is to shed
light on the role of foreign MNEs and on the regional context.
Obstacles to innovation - of a different nature, that is, economic/
financial, organizational, institutional, and so on - are largely
context-specific. They play a key role in shaping the charac-
teristics of the external technological environment, and thus in
determining the performance of existing producers and also the
attractiveness of a region for foreign MNEs and domestic firms.
The decision of (both nationally-owned and foreign-owned) firms
to operate in particular regions and to engage in innovative activi-
ties may be affected by their evaluation of the difficulties that will
be encountered in the process of innovation.
This is likely to be the case in a country such as Italy, which
historically has been characterized by strong territorial imbal-
ances that are among the sharpest in the European Union. The
territorial distribution of innovation in the country is highly con-
centrated in a few northern regions, a phenomenon known as the
Italian 'innovative divide'. Regional innovation patterns differ not
only with respect to the specific technological strategies and per-
formances of firms, but also in terms of the relevance of systemic
interactions and contextual factors favourable (or unfavourable)
to innovation.
The micro-data used in the empirical analysis come from the
Italian third Community Innovation Survey (CIS3) and refer to the
period 1998-2000; the sample is composed of 15,512 firms. The
analysis considers at the same time all nine individual obstacles
to innovation listed in the Italian CIS3; the estimation method
used a Multivariate Probit Model to control for the potential pres-
ence of any unobserved error correlation structure amongst
obstacles assessment.
The study shows that important differences in firms' perception
of obstacles to innovation occur both across regional locations
