The effects of innovations on peruvian companies’ sales: The mediating role of KIBS

Abstract

Companies increasingly embrace open business-to-business innovation. In this context, knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) play a crucial role as they can provide services and know-how to companies. As comparisons of digital innovation in Latin American companies are scarce, a more in-depth study is required of the role that KIBS plays in their digital innovation. This study therefore investigates the impact of KIBS and the implementation of innovations, including digital ones, on the sales of companies. Utilizing a Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM), we scrutinize data from 959 companies in Peru. The findings reveal that internally implemented innovations do not have a statistically significant direct effect on sales. However, outsourcing KIBS emerges as a positive mediator in this relationship. Specifically, we find that companies that subcontract those services are more likely to implement innovations and to achieve a positive impact on their sales in the short-term. Despite the opportunities that digital innovation brings, its direct effect on companies’ sales still needs to be improved, especially for manufacturing companies.