Local Innovation Agents Research Articles

Pandemia, turismo e educação na Região Norte do Paraná: Análise comparativa com uso do Radar de Inovação

During the pandemic caused by Covid-19, several sectors of the economy went through difficult times in their management, but perhaps the most affected were the tourism and education sectors. In this context, hotel and educational companies were able to count on the transfer of management technologies through the Local Innovation Agents Project, which, in a partnership between the National Council for Research and Technological Development and the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service, used the Innovation Radar methodology as a management diagnosis. This article aims to compare the Education and Tourism sectors to understand which of them obtained the best results during COVID-19 in the northern region of Paraná, between the months of February 2021 and September 2021. The research is descriptive. The sectors analyzed are Education and Tourism, in the northern region of Paraná. The survey construct includes the 6 dimensions contained in the Innovation Radar, which are: Management by Indicators, Operations Management, Marketing, Sustainable Practices, Innovation and Digital Transformation. The instruments used were the Innovation Radar built in Excel, and online tools for scheduling and holding meetings, such as WhatsApp, Google Calendar, Google Meet and Zoom. The sample is intentional and consists of 3 companies from each sector (Education and Tourism). The results showed that when analyzing which dimensions had the highest growth in each of the verticals, it was concluded that the dimension that achieved the most growth in the Tourism sector was the Marketing dimension, with a growth of 31.65%, on average, and as for the Education sector, Innovation was the dimension that presented the highest percentage of growth, with 64.03%. The Tourism sector presented the best result in Marketing and the Education sector presented the best result in innovation.

An analysis of the Local Innovation Agents Program in the production processes of animal husbandry in the Brazilian Northeast

Resumo O Programa de Agentes Locais de Inovação (ALI) é uma iniciativa do Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas (SEBRAE) que oferece acompanhamento especializado para promover o aumento da produtividade por meio da inovação. O ALI tem um papel fundamental em promover a melhoria da competitividade das micro e pequenas empresas brasileiras. O sucesso do Programa em micro e pequenas empresas dos setores de comércio e serviço foi responsável pela expansão da metodologia para os negócios rurais. Diante deste contexto, o objetivo desta pesquisa foi avaliar o impacto da metodologia do Programa ALI nos processos produtivos da criação de animais (bovinos, caprinos e ovinos) no Rio Grande do Norte, Brasil. Para isto, foram analisadas duas sub dimensões do Radar de inovação, antes e após o acompanhamento das propriedades agropecuárias, visando identificar as operações e procedimentos adotados para melhoria do processo produtivo e avaliar as soluções escolhidas para a resolução de problemas da propriedade. Os resultados demonstraram que as propriedades acompanhadas apresentaram uma melhoria de 19,74% nos seus processos produtivos após o acompanhamento e mostraram que a metodologia do Programa ALI Rural impactou positivamente na melhoria dos processos produtivos da criação de animais no RN.

Uma análise do programa Agentes Locais de Inovação nos processos produtivos da criação de animais no Nordeste brasileiro

Abstract The Local Innovation Agents Program (ALI) is an initiative of the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae) that offers specialized support to promote increased productivity through innovation. The LIA plays a fundamental role in promoting the competitiveness improvement of Brazilian micro and small companies. The success of the Program in micro and small companies in the commerce and service sectors was responsible for the expansion of the methodology to rural businesses. Given this context, the purpose of this research was to evaluate the impact of the ALI Program methodology on the production processes of animal husbandry (cattle, goats, and sheep) in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. To this end, two sub-dimensions of the Innovation Radar were analyzed, before and after monitoring agricultural properties, aiming to identify the operations and procedures adopted to improve the production process and evaluate the solutions chosen to solve property problems. The results demonstrated that the monitored properties showed an improvement of 19.74% in their production processes after monitoring and that the ALI Rural Program methodology had a positive impact on improving the production processes of animal husbandry in RN.

PROGRAMA AGENTES LOCAIS DE INOVAÇÃO: UM ESTUDO DE CASO DE CARACTERIZAÇÃO E RESULTADOS EM BOA VISTA (RR)

The Local Innovation Agents Program (ALI) is a relevant extension initiative developed in an inter-institutional coordination in order to promote innovation in small Brazilian businesses through the operationalization of the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (SEBRAE) and funding from the National Council Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). Structured through a case study with the application of a semi-structured survey to a sample of 25 small companies in a universe of 40 in the data collection, combined with a graphic analysis and an administrative hermeneutics in the data analysis, this research has an exploratory and descriptive nature regarding to the purposes and quali-quantitative nature regarding the means. Based on the results presented it is concluded that the implementation of the Local Innovation Agents Program (ALI) has had positive indicators in the promotion of innovation in local small business in the municipality of Boa Vista in Roraima as well as shared by the perception of the businessmen served.

CULTURA DA INOVAÇÃO E DESENVOLVIMENTO DE COMPETÊNCIAS ENTRE OS AGENTES LOCAIS DE INOVAÇÃO EM BOA VISTA (RR)

The culture of innovation has become a strategic concept of differentiation and for increase of competitiveness which is why it is the object of this essay through an empirical analysis undertaken by the Local Innovation Agents Program (ALI), an interinstitutional partnership between the Brazilian Service of Support to Micro and Small Enterprises (SEBRAE) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) developed with a group of 89 small companies in 2020.

The local innovation agents program: a literature review on the largest Brazilian small business innovation support program

PurposeThis paper aims to analyze the characteristics of Brazilian micro and small businesses (MSBs) and the main lessons derived from the largest small business innovation support program in the country, the Local Innovation Agents – Agentes Locais de Inovação (ALI) Program.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 34 papers were selected from the Web of Science and Scopus databases (28), as well as from the Revista de Administração e Inovação – RAI (6), a seminal Brazilian innovation journal. The papers were analyzed in terms of the regional context, methodological approach and main findings. Regional complementary analyzes of some program figures were also performed by Spearman correlation and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests.FindingsThe review revealed a low innovation level among Brazilian MSBs and that the platform (incremental product) and brand (marketing) innovation dimensions were the most developed across different regions and industries. Reviewed papers also showed that all MSBs were able to improve innovation over the program independent of previous management and innovation levels, besides positive relationships between management and innovation. The complementary analysis provided a regional panorama of the program figures and corroborated MSBs innovation improvement.Research limitations/implicationsThis review analyzed relevant papers and figures related to the program, summarized main lessons and provided future research venues.Practical implicationsDifferent innovation strategies reviewed may be implemented by MSBs owners. Policymakers may also benefit from the program experience.Originality/valueDespite the high number of publications and the relevance of the largest Brazilian innovation support program, there were still no literature reviews comprehending the diverse lessons derived from the ALI Program, as well as a regional panorama of the program figures.

Um panorama sobre o programa agente local de inovação (Sebrae-Cnpq) na região de Ribeirão Preto-SP

O papel das micro e pequenas empresas (MPEs) na economia do país tem crescido a cada ano o que realça ainda mais a importância dessas empresas para o crescimento econômico e social do país. Além de gerarem uma parcela significativa do PIB e serem responsáveis por grande parcela dos empregos com carteira assinada as MPEs tem contribuído para o desenvolvimento de inúmeros setores e segmentos econômicos além de propiciar oportunidades para pessoas de espírito empreendedor ofertar produtos e serviços que atendam parcela significativa da população. No tocante a programas de consultoria, treinamentos e acompanhamento das MPEs o SEBRAE em parceria com o CNPQ tem promovido o Programa de Agentes Locais de Inovação (ALI) que tem por objetivo promover a prática continuada de inovação nas MPEs realizada de forma sistemática por bolsistas treinados pelo SEBRAE que atuam num conjunto de empresas previamente selecionadas pelo SEBRAE. O objetivo do presente artigo é apresentar um panorama dos resultados alcançados pelos agentes locais de inovação no Programa ALI na região de Ribeirão Preto no triênio 2015-2017. A metodologia utilizada no presente trabalho foi a aplicação da Ferramenta Radar de Inovação onde a empresa é avaliada em diversas dimensões e posteriormente é feito um plano de inovação e acompanhamento das ações a serem implementadas. Os resultados obtidos mostram uma significativa melhora dos indicadores de desempenho em diversas áreas das empresas do programa o que corrobora a importância da manutenção do programa ALI como uma alternativa economicamente viável para o fomento da inovação nas Micro e Pequenas Empresas.

Impactos da inovação nas pequenas empresas do Vale do Rio Doce, Minas Gerais, Brasil

Destaques: A implementação da inovação nas pequenas empresas; o desenvolvimento regional do leste mineiro; o crescimento do lucro das empresas em diversos segmentos; o sucesso das pequenas empresas.
 Objetivo: Verificar os primeiros resultados da inovação durante o Programa Agentes Locais de Inovação do Vale do Rio Doce, em Minas Gerais, Brasil.
 Desenho/Metodologia/Abordagem: Foram obtidos os escores do Radar da Inovação das pequenas empresas atendidas pelo Programa das cidades de Governador Valadares, Coronel Fabriciano, Ipatinga e Timóteo, no período de 2015 a 2017.
 Resultados: As empresas apresentaram, de maneira geral, sucesso em relação à inovação proposta pelos agentes entre o ciclo 0 e o ciclo 1 do Radar da Inovação. Foi um grande desafio adequar empresas com maior tempo de atuação aos novos hábitos dos consumidores, já que uma das inovações propostas foi a de inserção das empresas nas redes sociais.
 Limitações da investigação: As perguntas que fizeram parte do questionário aplicado às empresas foram aquelas previstas pelo Radar da Inovação, para os ciclos 0 e 1 do Programa, de um total de cinco ciclos. Assim, recomenda-se a elaboração de novas perguntas adaptadas aos outros ciclos.
 Implicações práticas: A adoção e a prática do pós-venda com os clientes pelas pequenas empresas, sendo que nenhuma adotava essa atividade como procedimento padrão, como observado no ciclo 0, antes da adesão ao Programa.
 Originalidade/valor: Este estudo buscou demonstrar a capacidade das pequenas empresas de resistir à crise econômica e trazer resultados positivos para a economia por meio da inovação e sua inserção nas redes sociais, conforme seus escores obtidos.

Evaluating innovation development among Brazilian micro and small businesses in view of management level: Insights from the local innovation agents program

This research aims to analyze management and innovation patterns among micro and small businesses (MSBs) that participated during 2015–2016 in the Local Innovation Agents (LIA) Program from the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (SEBRAE). Complemented by factor analyses, two-step cluster analysis was applied on 6674 MSBs’ management dimensions to identify group patterns and statistical tests explored further cluster differences regarding management and innovation dimensions, besides innovation improvement throughout the program. Results were multifaceted. First, complementary factor analyses showed that management dimensions compose one factor with similar loadings, thus in accordance with their predictive importance found in the cluster analysis. Second, two main clusters were identified in terms of management level, which also presented significant differences regarding innovation levels. Third, considering a before-and-after self-comparison, by and large, innovation was significantly improved by both clusters. Fourth, the highest developed cluster presented higher improvement rates in most innovation dimensions, thus benefiting more from the program, except for two marketing-related innovations, which improved similarly by both clusters. Overall, even though the LIA Program was effective to leverage MSBs innovation, higher efficiency rates would be bounded to fewer participating MSBs, and hence policy planners should be aware of this tradeoff.

The Impact of Organizational Innovativeness on Product-oriented innovativeness in Agro-industrial micro and small businesses

By means of the Local Innovation Agents (LIA) Program, the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (SEBRAE) has conveyed innovation to Brazilian micro and small businesses (MSBs). Within this setting, this paper aims to analyze the impact of organizational innovativeness on product-oriented innovativeness in agroindustry small businesses. Regarding methodology, Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was employed in order to validate constructs and to analyze causal effects. The sample comprises secondary data from 249 agroindustry MSBs that participated in the LIA program between 2012 and 2014. Regarding results, the final models fulfills all constructs validation criteria and structural analysis indicated that both loading factors and path coefficients were statistically significant, besides presenting predictive relevance and explained variance (R²) of 57,9%. In sum, the results show that organizational innovativeness impacts positively product-oriented innovativeness, corroborating other studies that show the importance of organizational innovations.

Assessing a Micro and Small Businesses Innovation Support Programme in Brazil: The Local Innovation Agents Programme

AbstractCreated by the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (SEBRAE) and developed in partnership with the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), the local innovation agents (LIA) programme aims to convey innovation to Brazilian micro and small businesses (MSBs) and has covered around 150 000 MSBs since 2008. Notwithstanding, assessments of the LIA programme are still limited. Therefore, this paper aims to assess the impact of the LIA programme based on a sample of over 6000 MSBs. Results show that all dimensions improved to some extent, but marketing and organizational‐related innovations improved more than product and process‐related ones. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Os desafios para a inovação na gestão escolar em micro e pequenas empresas

The implementation of innovation actions in small companies is essential for the expansion of competitiveness, increase of billing and many positive changes in the different sectors of the economy. However, innovate brings questions and uncertainties, especially in small companies. Therefore, the Program Local Innovation Agents (ALI Program) objective to disseminate knowledge and guide the practice of innovative actions in these companies. Its methodology involves diagnoses and monthly follow-ups, within a period of 30 months, divided into 4 cycles. For this article, were analysed 8 companies from the educational segment, participants of the ALI Program, belonging to the municipalities of Marilia and Assis, state of Sao Paulo, with the objective of proposing actions that aim at improving the relationship with students, emphasizing the clarity of the company's value proposition and the competitiveness of each. For this, was carried out bibliographical research, on-site study for observation and application of the Radar Innovation Diagnosis, which measures the degree of global innovation, in a set of 13 dimensions. From this, it was identified that the companies were able to put into practice different marketing innovation actions, through the development of the studied dimensions, presented improvement in Cycles 0 and 1. The proposed actions also brought positive results in the level of customer satisfaction, besides of greater engagement of students and community with the school.

Comunicação estratégica e inovação em micro e pequenas empresas (MPE) sob a ótica de Agentes Locais de Inovação (ALI)

This paper aims to understand strategic communication as an innovation driver in micro and small enterprises (MSEs). To do so, we developed both the theoretical research based on bibliographic survey and the applied research with exploratory purposes, which relied on a semi-structured survey with 19 local innovation agents that were active in MSEs from Bauru and its neighboring towns. Additionally, a content assessment was performed for interpreting the results. This study concluded that MSEs did not perceive any relations between strategic communication and innovation. Companies see communication as a tool for promoting products and services and they apply the strategy intuitively.

Why do small businesses innovate? Relevant factors of innovation in businesses participating in the Local Innovation Agents program in Rondônia (Amazon, Brazil)

This study aimed to present the most relevant cognitive factors that influence innovation in activities of small businesses participating in the Local Innovation Agents program in Rondônia (Amazon, Brazil). Cognitive maps were used as a methodological approach for the study of a group of small businesses within the context of the project. The results indicated the existence of 14 relevant factors mentioned by the businesses assessed, highlighting two influence factors mentioned by all participants in some casual relationship, therefore, a consensus: “need for survival” and “knowledge and experience”. These factors indicate, respectively, motivation and innovation process management of the companies studied. The different relations among the factors allowed identifying two groups within the program. They differed primarily in regard of willingness to innovate and development of learning levels that influence innovation activities resulting from the interaction with the program's agents.

Brazilian SMEs' innovation strategies: agro-industry, construction and retail industries

The Brazilian micro and small business support service (SEBRAE) developed the local innovation agents program (LIA) mainly to convey the culture of innovation to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). By means of correlational hierarchical cluster analysis of 412 companies' innovation radar, this research aims to identify the main innovation strategies of SMEs in the agro-industry, construction, and retail industries. Among the main results, it is noteworthy that in all industries the platform dimension, which comprises common components for different products, is one of the most developed dimensions among the main innovation strategies. This result reinforces the incremental nature of innovation among SMEs. Moreover, the innovation strategies adopted by SMEs have involved dimensions other than just product development, such as organisational, brand, clients, distribution channels, and supply chain, among others.

Brazilian SMEs' innovation strategies: agro-industry, construction and retail industries

The Brazilian micro and small business support service (SEBRAE) developed the local innovation agents program (LIA) mainly to convey the culture of innovation to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). By means of correlational hierarchical cluster analysis of 412 companies' innovation radar, this research aims to identify the main innovation strategies of SMEs in the agro-industry, construction, and retail industries. Among the main results, it is noteworthy that in all industries the platform dimension, which comprises common components for different products, is one of the most developed dimensions among the main innovation strategies. This result reinforces the incremental nature of innovation among SMEs. Moreover, the innovation strategies adopted by SMEs have involved dimensions other than just product development, such as organisational, brand, clients, distribution channels, and supply chain, among others.

Radar da inovação como ferramenta para o alcance de vantagem competitiva para micro e pequenas empresas

As organizações, em geral, têm buscado a inovação como meio para obtenção de vantagem competitiva. No contexto das micro e pequenas empresas (MPEs), essa prática tem sido apoiada pelo Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas (SEBRAE) por meio do programa Agentes Locais de Inovação (ALI), que tem como objetivo fortalecer a prática da inovação pela identificação de oportunidades para inovar. A principal ferramenta utilizada neste trabalho é o Radar da Inovação, que tem como base o trabalho original de Sawhney, Wolcott e Arroniz (2006). Este artigo buscou alcançar dois objetivos i) analisar como as MPEs podem utilizar o Radar como instrumento para a construção de estratégias para a inovação; ii) analisar comparativamente os setores participantes da amostra no que se refere à dimensão em que ocorre a inovação bem como a importância da inovação para cada setor analisado. A amostra do estudo foi composta de 1139 micro e pequenas empresas que aderiram ao programa ALI em 2012, Localizadas no Estado do Paraná. Os dados foram analisados por meio de testes estatísticos como o de Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney entre outros. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que as MPEs inovam por meio de dimensões semelhantes do Radar, ainda que pertençam a setores diferentes. Contudo, a diferença entre os setores analisados está na intensidade da inovação, que mostrou-se mais robusta no setor de software e mais fraca no setor moveleiro. Verificou-se ainda que muitas dimensões do Radar foram pouco exploradas, o que mostra grande potencial para obtenção de vantagem competitiva por meio da inovação.

Innovation of Micro and Small Enterprises: Measuring the Degree of Innovation of Companies Participating in the Local Innovation Agents Project

The objective of this study was to measure the degree of innovation of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in the state of Sergipe. For this purpose, we conducted a survey of 1,260 MSEs that participate in the Local Innovation Agents Project of SEBRAE (Brazilian Service to Support Micro and Small Enterprises) in Sergipe, among firms in the food, civil construction, lumber and furniture, health, and textile and apparel sectors. The tool used to measure innovation was the innovation radar, developed by Sawhney, Wolcott & Arroniz (2006), which uses 12 dimensions: offerings, platform, customers, solutions, relationship, value capture, processes, organization, supply chain, presence, networking and brand. This tool was complemented by the innovation ambience dimension of Bachmann & Destefani (2008), because an organizational climate propitious to innovation is a prerequisite in companies. Among the results were that the average degree of innovation of the MSEs in Sergipe was 2.01, which indicates still incipient innovation in the sample of firms analyzed.

The Triple Helix Model as an Instrument of Local Response to the Economic Crisis

In an attempt to overcome the impact of the economic crisis that emerged in 2007–2008, the triple helix model (THM) is increasingly being used as an inspiration source for local development policy, even though many localities and regions have not been able to create and sustain the innovation dynamics and sub-dynamics described and prescribed by the model. In fact, in less-advanced contexts, an adaptation and simplification of the THM to the local conditions and practice is likely to occur. Based on semi-structured interviews and direct observation of the evolution of a THM-driven local development environment in a Portuguese small municipality, the authors claim that when the originally complex model is simplified, it seems to be able to mobilize local innovation agents, to legitimize policy efforts and to improve coherence between different policy strands affecting innovation. Even though deprived of its conceptual complexity, the simplified THM may be an effective framework for less-advanced economies to promote innovation and counteract the effects of the economic crisis.