Business perception of obstacles to innovate: Evidence from Chile with pseudo-panel data analysis

Abstract

The extant literature on firm-level innovation has primarily focused on the driving forces of successful innovation; thus, paying less attention to obstacles associated with innovation inputs and outputs. On the other hand, most studies on innovation impediments have concentrated on financial obstacles, overlooking other kinds of barriers as important for companies engaged in innovation. This article fills this gap by studying the impact of perceived obstacles on a set of inputs to and outputs from the innovation process. Empirical results based on the 6th-10th Chile Business Innovation Surveys confirm that perceived non-financial obstacles, such as knowledge, cooperation, market, demand, and regulation, are as important as perceived financial impediments.