Analysis of Types, Intensity, Methods and Effects of Process Innovations

Abstract

<p><strong>Purpose:</strong> The purpose is to provide knowledge about the intensity and types of process innovation in the business sphere, as well as the representation of entities involved in creating innovation, and about the effects of process innovation.</p><p><strong>Methodology/Approach:</strong> Data from the statistical survey on innovation activities carried out by the Czech Statistical Office according to the Eurostat methodology were used, supplemented by some results of the own questionnaire survey. Methods of sorting, size arrangement, structure analysis, comparison, context analysis were used.</p><p><strong>Findings:</strong> The large enterprises were significantly more active than SMEs in implementing process innovations, as well as foreign affiliates were more active than domestic enterprises. Besides typical competitive advantages of process innovation benefits the benefits in ecology, occupational safety and reduced labour demand have also proved to be numerous. Co-operation of enterprises with universities has proved to be low. The lack of skilled workers and financial resources were the main obstacles to the innovation activity of enterprises.</p><p><strong>Research Limitation/implication:</strong> The research is focused on companies in the Czech Republic.</p><strong>Originality/Value of paper:</strong> The actual contribution of the article lies in the purpose-oriented comparison of process innovations between fields of enterprise activities, especially in the area of logistics innovations, in some aspects the comparison of process-innovation activities according to the size of the company and the ownership of the company.